The Estate of Rodney Graham

“Lobbing Potatoes at a Gong, 1969”, 2006 B&W Super 16 film transferred to digital 10:59 minutes, stereo sound . “The source is an anecdote, which describes the drummer of Pink Floyd lobbing these vegetables at a gong during a long jam at a UFO event in London in the sixties. I have long wanted to re-enact this performance. I finally did it, contextualizing it as a kind of fluxus event and backdating it to 1969. My costume represents what I might have worn had I been a New York artist at the time (plaid shirt, jeans, Red Wing work boots). My fashion icon is Dan Graham. In this work all the potatoes that hit the gong were distilled into vodka (the rest became potato salad) that is exhibited with a concrete poetry style typewritten label done on an Olivetti Letters 22.” . . This film will be shown for the first time in the UK during the exhibition “Who does not love a tree” at the Lisson Gallery, London, February 18th - April 11th. . All images are production stills . @lisson_gallery

“Betula Pendula ‘Fasigiata’ (Sous-chef on Smoke-break)”, 2011 Lightbox with transparency 95.75 x 71.75 inches . . “The piece was inspired by a common sight in Vancouver: kitchen workers on a smoke break. I saw one such worker having a smoke behind a Main Street restaurant, leaning against a hedge and the relationship between the smoker and nature interested me. I decided to reconstruct the scene as a kind of reverie in a considerably more bucolic setting: a public garden, Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, an arboretum and a popular tourist destination which has a typical park-view restaurant. As usual I used myself as the subject, in this case a sous-chef, an employee of the restaurant (‘Seasons in the Park’). Having found the location I realized the true subject of the picture was the magnificent Birch tree against which I posed, and titled the picture accordingly, using the full Latin designation from the plaque visible on the tree, indicating the human presence by a sub-title. I liked the idea that just as a sous-chef is under a chef, so the human subject is subordinate to the tree. It is the second work in which I have placed myself under a tree, the first being the 1997 film “Vexation Island”. . This piece will be shown, among other works, in the upcoming exhibition “Who does not love a tree?” at the Lisson Gallery, London. February 18th - April 11th . All B&W images are production stills . @lisson_gallery

“Refraction Study after Jerry Lewis (Artists and Models, 1955)”, 2020 72 x 60 inches, light box with chromogenic transparency . Currently being exhibited in Denmark at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art until April 6th. The show “Louisiana’s New Works” presents recent acquisitions from 2022 and onwards. . Also in this post are some production stills and a frame from the 1955 Jerry Lewis film “Artist’s and Models” which was the inspiration for this piece. . . @louisianamuseum @lisson_gallery @hauserwirth @303gallery

MONTRÉAL: L’artiste canadien Rodney Graham utilise l’humour pour déconstruire les récits qui entourent l’art, la musique et la culture populaire. Il est surtout connu pour ses photos démesurées à la lisière entre fiction et réalité. Graham est membre de l’École de Vancouver, un groupe d’artistes qui, à la fin des années 1970, utilisent la photographie afin de commenter divers enjeux sociaux. Son travail a fait l’objet d’expositions à l’Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois, États-Unis), et fait partie des collections du Museum of Modern Art (New York, États-Unis) et du Centre Pompidou (Paris, France). Canadian artist Rodney Graham uses humour to deconstruct the narratives surrounding art, music, and popular culture. He is best known for his oversized photos that blur the line between fiction and reality. Graham is a member of the Vancouver School, a group of artists who, in the late 1970s, used photography to comment on various social issues. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois, United States), and is part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, United States) and the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France). 📍: 2020 rue William, Arsenal art contemporain Montréal 🎟️ Lien en bio / link in bio @rodneygrahamstudio Rodney Graham, Vacuuming the Gallery 1949, Ed. 3/3, 2018 Quatre boîtes lumineuses en aluminium avec impressions chromogènes sur transparents / Four painted aluminum lightboxes with transmounted chromogenic transparencies 119½ x 286 x 7 in 📷 Rodney Graham, In his studio, 2022. Estate of Rodney Graham; Courtesy Lisson Gallery. Photography by Sven Boecker. #collectionmajudia #contemporaryart #art #artist#artcollector #arsenalartcontemporain#arsenalcontemporaryart#arsenalartcontemporainmontreal#arsenal_montreal

For over 20 years, the Audain Prize has celebrated the role that art plays in a thriving society by elevating British Columbia's artists who have shaped the trajectory of Canadian art, both nationally, and around the world. Today we spotlight “Cactus Fan” (2013) by 2011 Audain Prize recipient Rodney Graham in the permanent collection of the Audain Art Museum. Graham’s self portrait as a science professor in his lightbox work “Cactus Fan,” reimagines the 1855 painting titled “The Cactus Enthusiast” by Carl Spitzweg. Through the historical dialogue Graham presents, we are left to ask: what would it mean to depict an adoration of a cactus by an official under the German federation? What is invoked by Graham when a cactus is presented as an end term gift to a professor, wrapped with gift tissue, ribbon and helium balloons? By invoking Spitzweg’s painting, how is Graham reckoning with the cactus as a 19th century colonial curiosity and a now commodified gift? This self-portrait raises questions of global relevance; it is no coincidence that Graham’s work has been recognized both locally and internationally. Image 1:  Detail image of image 2. Image 2: Rodney Graham (1949 - 2022) “Cactus Fan,” 2013.  Aluminum light box with transmounted chromogenic transparency.  Object: 119 5/8 x 66 5/8 x 7 in. Audain Art Museum Collection. Purchased with funds from the Audain Foundation. @audainartmuseum @rodneygrahamstudio #audainprize #audain #prize #canadianart #canadianartists #RodneyGraham #AAM #audainartmuseum #portrait #lightbox #painting

“Welsh Oak (#4)”, 1998 B&W photograph 94 x 70.5 inches . . . .

“My Late Early Styles (Part 1, The Middle Period)”, 2007 - 09 Chromogenic photograph 71.5 x 95.5 inches . This work is currently exhibited in the show “Postcards from the Heart: Selections from the Brigette and Henning Freybe Collection” at the Vancouver Art Gallery, April 18th - October 5th, 2025 . . . First photo is the finished piece, the other two are production stills. . @vanartgallery #rodneygraham #rodneygrahamstudio

‘About Works Past and Present’, screening on April 27th at 3pm at the Herbert Foundation - Loods ( @herbertfoundation ) features a 1996 lecture by Rodney at the AA School of Architecture, London. In this talk he offers a chronological journey through his artist career, beginning in the mid-1970’s. . @herbertfoundation @aaschool

“Smoke Break 2 (Drywaller)”, 2012 Diptych lightbox with colour transparencies 119 x 148 inches . The photos for this piece were on this day in 2012 . “This piece is a kind of sequel to my first work dealing with this subject: “Sous-Chef on Smoke Break”. The smoke break series is inspired by observed events. Here I witnessed a plasterer having a cigarette break on Main Street while standing on the strange metal stilts these tradespeople often wear to reach high walls. I was showing images of Sous Chef and Drywaller to my friend David Bachelor who suggested to me the idea of continuing the series as the four seasons since I already had Summer (the background of the Sous Chef piece clearly suggests summer) and Winter (the snow effect of the powered plaster, the ‘snowflake’ pattern on the wall, the space heater in the Drywaller) and thus the idea of the series was born. So then I started thinking what I would do for the remaining two seasons. I only later realized that the character in Sous Chef was working at a restaurant called Seasons (the name is embroidered on his jacket)”

“Cactus Fan”, 2013 Lightbox with colour transparency 119 x 66 inches . The photo for this piece was taken at the University of British Columbia on this day in 2013. . “ Inspired by a nineteenth century painting; a small humorous work by German romantic painter Carl Spitzweg know as the “Cactus Aficionado”. Spitzeg’s original depicts a scholar in his study contemplating a cactus on his windowsill. The cactus bends and appears to return the gaze of the scholar who himself, in his green robe, resembles a cactus. I have adapted the subject by myself portraying the scholar as a chemistry professor who has received a cactus as, perhaps, an end term gift from his students. Four or five helium balloons hover above the gift wrapped plant attached by ribbons. I was hoping to attain something of the sentimental mood of the American illustrator Norman Rockwell, whose work owes something to Spitzweg. An American reviewer once described my work as resembling ‘low key humorous Father’s Day cards’ (hope I got the quote right). It’s true that this work would make an effective Father’s Day card. Somebody reminded me, after the fact, that a cactus as a gift can signify “prick”. I wasn’t thinking of that but I accept it.” - Rodney Graham, 2013

Rodney Graham Band gig poster from February 14th, 2006 (?) at the Railway Club in Vancouver with: hello, blue roses and Thee Goblins. Anybody out there that was at this gig? @helloblueroses . . . #theegoblins #helloblueroses @nardwuar

In the studio, November, 2016 The images on the lightbox are colour tests for three different pieces: “Media Studies ‘77”, “Dinner Break(Salisbury Steak)” and “Newspaper Man”