b. 1976, Chester, UK
Lives and works in Suffolk and London, UK

Ryan Gander's bold and colourful painting Irresistible Force Paradox (LY1A) (2023) is inspired by the cartoon Tintin – a childhood obsession and longstanding reference for Gander. Here, expressions of energy are visualised in a circle of instinctively comprehensible ‘action marks’ that signify movement, emotions and interactions between characters. Gander isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘LY1A’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine.

In Gander’s words, the paintings "convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form."

Gander’s Natural Sign paintings are studies for scenery paintings depicting a full moon witnessed by the artist during a period of reduced geographical mobility. The works in this series were made by printing the base of an acrylic paint-coated pan, found by the artist in his kitchen, onto 10 oz indigo Japanese denim.

“We live in the middle of nowhere really, in the countryside close to the coast. During the last year (of lockdowns) there was a drought of difference and inspiration. There is nothing out here at night but the moon and the fire, and although it was hard to navigate working with these two such cliché and overly sensationalised signifiers, there was something in the excess of time and the endless silence that drew me to them. Something weirdly primal and existential. I couldn’t get prehistory out of my head.” – Ryan Gander

b. 1976, Chester, UK
Lives and works in Suffolk and London, UK

Ryan Gander's bold and colourful painting Irresistible Force Paradox (LY1A) (2023) is inspired by the cartoon Tintin – a childhood obsession and longstanding reference for Gander. Here, expressions of energy are visualised in a circle of instinctively comprehensible ‘action marks’ that signify movement, emotions and interactions between characters. Gander isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘LY1A’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine.

In Gander’s words, the paintings "convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form."

Gander’s Natural Sign paintings are studies for scenery paintings depicting a full moon witnessed by the artist during a period of reduced geographical mobility. The works in this series were made by printing the base of an acrylic paint-coated pan, found by the artist in his kitchen, onto 10 oz indigo Japanese denim.

“We live in the middle of nowhere really, in the countryside close to the coast. During the last year (of lockdowns) there was a drought of difference and inspiration. There is nothing out here at night but the moon and the fire, and although it was hard to navigate working with these two such cliché and overly sensationalised signifiers, there was something in the excess of time and the endless silence that drew me to them. Something weirdly primal and existential. I couldn’t get prehistory out of my head.” – Ryan Gander

b. 1976, Chester, UK
Lives and works in Suffolk and London, UK

Ryan Gander's bold and colourful painting Irresistible Force Paradox (LY1A) (2023) is inspired by the cartoon Tintin – a childhood obsession and longstanding reference for Gander. Here, expressions of energy are visualised in a circle of instinctively comprehensible ‘action marks’ that signify movement, emotions and interactions between characters. Gander isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘LY1A’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine.

In Gander’s words, the paintings "convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form."

Gander’s Natural Sign paintings are studies for scenery paintings depicting a full moon witnessed by the artist during a period of reduced geographical mobility. The works in this series were made by printing the base of an acrylic paint-coated pan, found by the artist in his kitchen, onto 10 oz indigo Japanese denim.

“We live in the middle of nowhere really, in the countryside close to the coast. During the last year (of lockdowns) there was a drought of difference and inspiration. There is nothing out here at night but the moon and the fire, and although it was hard to navigate working with these two such cliché and overly sensationalised signifiers, there was something in the excess of time and the endless silence that drew me to them. Something weirdly primal and existential. I couldn’t get prehistory out of my head.” – Ryan Gander

b. 1976, Chester, UK
Lives and works in Suffolk and London, UK

Ryan Gander's bold and colourful painting Irresistible Force Paradox (LY1A) (2023) is inspired by the cartoon Tintin – a childhood obsession and longstanding reference for Gander. Here, expressions of energy are visualised in a circle of instinctively comprehensible ‘action marks’ that signify movement, emotions and interactions between characters. Gander isolates the action marks from their original contexts and transposes them onto aluminium sheets coated in high gloss automotive paints matching Porsche colours – ‘LY1A’, for example. Displaced and abstracted on monochrome grounds, the action marks become ambiguous effects and the cause is left to viewers to imagine.

In Gander’s words, the paintings "convey a sense of irony and futility; an ‘Irresistible Force Paradox’, if you will. In a lot of cultures and religions, this futility is not a negative thing, it is a way of understanding what it is to be human. In Western traditions, we understand the human condition to be a journey from point A to B; however, it seems more logical and rational to understand it as a circular movement that is self-perpetuating and everlasting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost. It is only transferred from one thing to another, metamorphosing and changing form."

Gander’s Natural Sign paintings are studies for scenery paintings depicting a full moon witnessed by the artist during a period of reduced geographical mobility. The works in this series were made by printing the base of an acrylic paint-coated pan, found by the artist in his kitchen, onto 10 oz indigo Japanese denim.

“We live in the middle of nowhere really, in the countryside close to the coast. During the last year (of lockdowns) there was a drought of difference and inspiration. There is nothing out here at night but the moon and the fire, and although it was hard to navigate working with these two such cliché and overly sensationalised signifiers, there was something in the excess of time and the endless silence that drew me to them. Something weirdly primal and existential. I couldn’t get prehistory out of my head.” – Ryan Gander