Osaka , and the Hyundai Gallery in Seoul . “ Night in the Museum ,” his curated selection from the British Arts Council Collection , toured the UK , and he had the inaugural exhibition at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon , Canada .
After visiting Gander in Suffolk , I met him in his East London studio , where he handles the business side of his practice . Among the topics of conversation were the nature of creativity and madness , and the difference between art shows and art exhibitions .
ELIZABETH FULLERTON Will you resurrect your ideas wall in your new space ?
Yo-yo criticism , 2014 , A pair of white Adidas ZX750 trainers that have been hand painted on and around the soles with a brown textured rubber solution to appear as if the owner has walked through mud . A collaborative project between the artist and Adidas , commissioned by Adidas Originals , Tokyo .
GANDER The palette means more because the palette represents all the paintings that could have been , not the painting that I decided on . The selfportrait palettes are like a tongue-in-cheek dig at how ridiculous it is to build clumsy egocentric monuments to yourself , which is what so many artists do .
FULLERTON Your practice extends to writing , sculpture , architecture , and design . Is there any hierarchy to your production ?
GANDER No . I like things that are outside the realm of art . I like the trainers [ Yo-yo Criticism , 2014 ], and I like the cocktail book [ Artists ’ Cocktails : A Compendium , 2013 ], and I like designing buildings and doing consultancy work for property developers , and I like doing public art . It ’ s just a different context , a different audience . There ’ s a functionality about these things . They exist in the real world . The trainers are a great artwork because thousands of people wear them on the street . It ’ s astonishing and really exciting . You can tell when people are making or curating art for the right reasons , because they do things that you wouldn ’ t expect . I think that a key way to identify quality is expectation . It should surpass expectation . If I go to a show and it ’ s what I thought it would be , then it ’ s pandering to being successful .
FULLERTON Is there one medium that you enjoy most ?
RYAN GANDER The wall makes me panic a bit . It ’ s like having so many children that you can ’ t feed them all . I made a resolution –– not at New Year ’ s –– to finish more things before starting new ones . There were too many on the go .
Do you want to see a secret ? You know all the portraits that I paint and never show anyone ? Do you want to see [ a photo of ] one ? They ’ re actually really good . People think I don ’ t do them , and that ’ s annoying . I enjoy painting them .
FULLERTON Why do you show only the palettes ?
GANDER Writing , I guess . Not just writing books . There ’ s writing in everything , because everything ’ s a story .
FULLERTON Where did your love of storytelling come from ?
GANDER I spent a lot of time on my own when I was little ; I didn ’ t go to school . How do I say this without sounding twee and needy , because it ’ s not a wheelchair thing . It ’ s something different . Accessibility is very overrated , and that idea fuels my work , and me as a human . Let ’ s say I ’ m at a party in Berlin and it ’ s up a flight of steps . I ’ m in the room
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