NATURAL AND CONVENTIONAL SIGNS
Gander ’ s paintings on raw linen and raw denim depict a full moon witnessed by the artist during a period of reduced geographical mobility , and protest signs found in a photograph in a newspaper . The political messaging is rendered illegible by comic-like cartoon writing . The markings are abstracted into a generic sign system representing written language that one may expect to find in a cartoon , rendering it illegible .
The two types of images represent what Ryan Gander has called natural and conventional signs . Whereas a found shape — a tree , a footprint , or indeed the image of the moon — have meaning as representations , other signs — such as a nation ’ s flag , money , or writing — are only meaningful because it has been conventionally granted .
By questioning the distinction , Gander suggests that the easy recognition of such signs we take for granted in daily life may deserve reconsideration and this could renew awareness to our existence .
“ I ’ ve become a little obsessed with the idea that the world can be divided into ‘ those things that naturally convey meaning ’ and ‘ those things that are made to convey meaning ’,” said Gander . “ I guess that is what Maurice Merleau-Ponty meant by ‘ primary and secondary modes of expression ’. Almost all art — perhaps with the exception of outsider art — is made of conventional signs , not natural ones . For me , the phenomenon of finding natural signs outside the safety of a gallery by happenstance — like a discarded bus ticket , a waning moon , footprints in the snow — is often a more memorable and significant experience than those I am fed and manipulated by , which we might find charged by the white spaces of the institutions of art . As we navigate the world we miss so much , there are endless flashes of magnificent provocations , but we have to look .”
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