Gabriel Lester “Cleromancy”
RYAN LEE
[Image: Gabriel Lester "The Big One" (2011) RED to HD video]
This event has ended.
RYAN LEE presents an exhibition of work by Amsterdam-based inventor Gabriel Lester in
RLProject and RLWindow. On view in RLPRoject is The Big One (2011), a video, as well as six new and
related photographs of vintage lottery tickets lost in space and time. A companion piece, Cleromancy
(2010), is on view in RLWindow (May 12-June 29, 2015).
Lester is interested in how visual sensibilities are formed, and how it conditions and codifies our relation
to who we are and what we imagine the world and its potential to be. Employing the film or projector
image, he produces cinematographic narratives. He further investigates suspension in reality through a
dualistic approach of providing associative magic thought and rational consciousness. This exists as his
proposal on how to relate to the world through individual and collective perspectives.
In the videos on view, Lester mimics the ideas of the “Dream Factory” in the spectacle of lottery through
a micro/macro relationship with one another. Originally commissioned by the Museum Boijmans van
Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Big One discusses themes of ceremony, spectacle, and destiny through an
overarching narrative devoid of plot. The film observes a group of people, not quite characters, as they
engage in the various stages of the ritual of lottery. It is a look at man’s desire for change, his sense of
cosmic justice, and self-reflection. Cleromancy, filmed at the Netherlands State Lottery, explores these
same themes from a different approach. Lester captures it in extreme close-up, losing the logic of the draw
but amplifying the spectacle of the ritual. Again without a linear storyline or specific characters, the film
simply shows the hand of lady luck as she guides each ball to the final winning number.
The Big One has exhibited internationally, including at the 2014 Sydney Biennale.
Gabriel Lester (b. 1972, Amsterdam, NL) attended Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam.
His work has been the subject of important exhibitions, including Marrakesh Biennale (2014), Sydney
Biennale (2014), Performa 13 and 09, Venice Biennale (2013), Sharjah Bienniale (2013), dOCUMENTA
13 (2012), Sao Paulo Biennial (2010), Liverpool Biennale (2008). He has also exhibited at Artist Space,
New York; MACBA, Buenos Aires; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; and Witte de With, Rotterdam, among
others.
Concurrently on view is Clifford Ross: The Abstract Edge: Photographs, 1996-2001. Forthcoming exhibitions
include On The Exactitude of Rain: Maria Antelman, Sari Carel, MacGregor Harp, James Hoff, Bill Stone,
and REAL (The Remote Environmental Assessment Lab), on view July 1-August 28, 2015.
Media
Schedule
from May 14, 2015 to June 27, 2015
Opening Reception on 2015-05-16 from 17:00 to 19:00