Douglas Gordon, here's what I know

It seems highly ridiculous for me to reiterate the biography of Douglas Gordon when a much clearer and fuller account can be found at the address:

www.gagosian.com/artists/douglas-gordon/

News of the artist's exhibitons can also be found here.

I was planning researching the themes of the work of Douglas Gordon to reiterate in my first blog, to give whoever choses to read this a clear picture of what he is about, so that can begin to appreciate him as much as I do. However, it occurs to me that if I was to do this, it somehow negates the reasons as to why I was attracted to him in the first place. It was a gut reaction, something that cannot easily be explained, but in some form or another I had some kind of understanding with his work and therefore himself and his thinking that went into the work. Looking back, now that I am familar with more of his work, I suppose my initial attraction stems from that I am familiar which the content that he uses within his work. I believe familiarity plays a big part in his practiced, and why the work is so well recieved.

The first piece of his I became aware of was 'Self Portarit as Kurt Cobain, as Andy Warhol, as Myra Hindley, as Marilyn Monroe'. I remember stumbling across the photograph in a book, and being quite amazed at just how much a blonde wig could alter someones look. It is such a simple photograph, Gordon seems to be in a bad mood; the story seems to go in my mind that a friend, possibly a girlfriend has put this wig on him in an attempt to make him smile, which has just infuriated him even more, but then he has perhaps catch a glance at himself in the mirror and asked to be phtographed. I often feel that titles are irrelavant in artwork, but in Gordon's case, particlarly in this piece they become key, the work does not work without it. It acts similarly to a joke; the story is told within the image, the pun given in the title. It is this kind of playfulness that I believe makes Gordon's work so appealing. It is something that people can understand and relate to, not too much indepth thinking is required. I'm not quite sure what that says about me.

There appears to be another key element of attration within the work, again working on the theme of familiarity; fame. In the piece, 'Self Portrait as...........', Gordon transforms himself from being his average, uninteresting self, by using one simple move to entwine himself with these legendary figures. Purely by doing this Gordon is seen in a more favourable light. Had this connection not been made, he would be seen as 'just a man in a wig', but in doing so the viewer brings the image of these people to the forefront to contrast with the image before them, picking out similarlties and pulling Gordon's fame up, closer to the status of the four characters. Gordon also uses the fame of Hollywood film within several of his pieces, most notably in '24 Hour Pyscho', the slowing down of Hitchcock's classic to take the duration of a full day. Most people will have seen this film, or will be aware of it, due to the famous shower scene. Gordon applys his system to the existing piece, connecting himself to it, but still holding it as his work. However, the public already have an inlet into the understanding of the piece due to the familiar content. Gordon is already half way there in expressing message in his work. What is this message? Many interpretations can be made, as they should be, but for me it is the idea of taking complete control of something that holds this much stautus and history to display it in an entirley new way. Gordon sees himself worthy of manipulating a film of this calibre, and so makes himself equal to the fame of it. By him doing this, its sets precedent for others to display themselves in this way. Anybody can famous.

The concept of familiarity runs through the ideas of several of the artists I have interest in, including Gavin Turk, Christian Marclay, Cindy Sherman and Gregory Crewsdon. I suppose familiarity is a relative term to interest however. What is known to me is not nessercarily known to others. But in the case of these artists, the images used relate to popular culture, something of which very few could be sheltered from. It seems to be part of the basic knowledge we all become instilled with, but no-one is quite sure how or why. Having said that, I am still incredibly grateful for it.