303 Gallery is pleased to present our 5th exhibition of work by Rodney Graham.

In the front gallery, Graham presents paintings styled in the drip manner of Morris Louis.  In a light box titled "The Gifted Amateur, November 10, 1962," the artist portrays himself and also stands in as the archetypal abstract expressionist at home in the studio. This imagined paradigm plays on both the artist's and the viewer's idea of the canonized art historical figure - how it is perpetually re-envisioned and contextualized according to the effects of time and romanticized notions of the artist as domestic supernaturalist.   

In the rear gallery, the artist presents a kinetic sculpture titled ‘Rotary Psycho Opticon' - a replica of a freestanding kinetic op-art sculpture used as a backdrop for a performance by the band Black Sabbath on Belgian television in the early 1970s. By physically recreating what is essentially a readymade sculpture, the artist slyly examines fantasy as it relates to optical perception; the psychedelic patterns and movement of the sculpture itself mirroring the dreamlike haze a fan might be drawn into when imagining his favorite icons. Furthering this notion, Graham intends to use the sculpture as a backdrop for his own band's live performances.

In the past year Rodney Graham has had solo exhibitions at the Sprengal Museum, Hannoever, Gemany (he was the recipient of the Kurt Schwitters Prize), and the BAWAG Foundation in Vienna, Austria.  Prior to this, Graham also had solo exhibitions at Musee D'Art Contemporain de Montreal, Canada, The Bergen Kunsthalle, Norway, the ICA Philadelphia, PA, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada, The MOCA, Los Angeles, CA, and the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK.  Graham's work was on view in New York City when it was included in the Whitney Biennial of American Art in 2006.  JRP Ringier recently published "the Rodney Graham songbook" which contains "all of the words, most of the chords to 39 of the songs + some covers" that Graham has included on his 5 rock albums.  The Public Art Fund will be presenting two performances by the Rodney Graham Band at the Abrams Art Center at 466 Grand Street, on April 11 and 12, 2008.