BALLERINA
Based on an encounted with the iconic Edgar Degas bronze sculpture , Ryan Gander imagines the ballerina freed from the captivity of her traditional representation . In an attempt to breathe life and agency into the figure , he allows her to step down from the pedestal to which she had been confined . Yet this excursion finds her again in a state of immobility .
The ultramarine cube is Gander ’ s playful allusion to modernism : reduced in size , it represents a cartoonish idea of the legacy of the modern movement in art and architecture . While the series of ballerinas all include the cube and the plinth , their relative size varies for each work and reinforces the dream-like quality of the artist ’ s series .
Disenchantment on a visceral level , or Play Signals is from a series of unique works based on Ryan Gander ’ s encounter with Edgar Degas ’ famous bronze The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer from 1880- 81 . Positioned on the back , with her arms loosely outstretched to either side of her torso and the legs fallen to the side , the posture of Gander ’ s bronze suggests that the dancer may have fallen asleep or fainted from exhaustion during training . A miniature white plinth lies next to her left and an ultramarine cube next to her right outstretched hand on the floor , as if they had gently rolled from her suddenly released hold .
Reference image : Edgar Degas , The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer , 1880-81 Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
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