Andrew Anderson speaks to one of the artists involved in our closing exhibition at Cornerhouse, and finds that it’s a case of art mirroring architecture…
Gabriel Lester is not your average artist. He is a filmmaker who doesn’t make films, a sculptor who doesn’t sculpt, and a storyteller who doesn’t write – but what Lester does do is to take ideas from all of the aforementioned art forms to create work that intrigues, excites and energises his audiences. Two of Lester’s installations are on display now at Cornerhouse as part of Playtime, an exhibition inspired by Jacques Tati’s 1967 film of the same name, and which draws the curtains on thirty years of craft, contemplation and creation at Cornerhouse.
“My work centres around two things,” says Lester. “One, directing the spectator’s gaze – inwards or outwards. And two, inviting people to activate my works of art.” This is certainly the case with The Bouncer, a series of connected doors through which gallery-goers can pass, albeit awkwardly, and which was directly inspired by Tati. “His films propose situations where people are, as it were, trapped inside the mechanisms of modernity.”
Lester is a fitting choice for this final exhibition. His eclectic style mirrors Cornerhouse’s own artistic alloy, and his interest in architecture feels appropriate for an organisation undergoing a major move. “If a sculptural or architectural volume has a body, it must have a body language,” says Lester, which gets to the heart of what has made Cornerhouse so special – the living quality of the building. Lester’s other work on show, Melancholia in Arcadia, speaks to another shared similarity: a love of film. In it, wind catches at a set of curtains, creating a sense of suspense. Only, there is no wind. “It is a kind of film-still, a moment where time is frozen,” says Lester.
As we prepare to bid farewell to Cornerhouse, Lester’s work sounds a note of optimism for the future. “Our sense of time, place and identity is strongly related to the environment that surrounds, shelters and governs us,” he says. With the work that has gone into making HOME, that should put us in a very positive place indeed.
Playtime is on at Cornerhouse now, until 15 March 2015. Tickets for the closing performance and party The Storming (4 April) go on sale in January.