The artist Grieg Burgoyne spent several visits over a period of six months exploring the collection at the Lowry Gallery as well as the galleries themselves, when empty.
With a focus not on what we see, but what was absent and sensed,he has produced an exhibition opening this weekend at the Gallery entitled the one who was standing apart from me
Based on self-imposed rules and processes, Burgoyne’s work embraces seemingly contradictory ideas, such as using drawing to visualise the invisible. Rather than a literal interpretation, Burgoyne considers the invisible as the broader absences all around us. In this exhibition, these absences are explored through a series of videos and performances, as well as floor and wall-based works. Central to the exhibition is the performative nature of drawing itself. Going far beyond pencil on paper, this show encourages us to rethink the challenges and possibilities of gesture and mark making as being akin to an intensity of bareness.
The exhibition includes six new performance works on screen, realised in The Lowry Galleries and filmed across locations in Salford. Each of these absurdist performances are propositions about being present. Film works include Rock/Et, in which Burgoyne seeks to enact a pose from a drawing by Van Gogh titled Road to Tarascon, in Peel Park, Salford; and Confetti Football, which involves two five-a-side football teams playing with a small piece of confetti with the first team to score, winning.
Alongside screen-based works there are three sculptural interventions in the gallery space, made in relation to Burgoyne traversing the gallery spaces and utilising gestures inspired by LS Lowry drawings. Burgoyne covered the gallery floor in hessian pieces, a material he is attracted to for its utilitarian qualities, and functions as a means to both protect and hide something. Hand stitched together they become the sum of the areas of spaces missed and overlooked. A large wall painting will inject the colour yellow into one of the gallery spaces, drawing attention to an intensity of emptiness.
The new works are complemented by several works on paper by LS Lowry, selected by Burgoyne for their conceptual properties. Burgoyne is drawn to the figures and their movements; where they have come from or are going to is unclear. Claire Stewart, Curator of the Lowry Collection says, “It’s been a fascinating and enormously enjoyable process going through every drawing by LS Lowry in the collection and seeing them through Greig’s eyes.
Lowry’s pictures are so often full of people occupying large open spaces but Greig’s interest has been in the space around the figures, their absence rather than their presence. From that starting point he has developed surreal and engaging work, derived from Lowry but entirely fresh and unique.”
On the opening weekend, Burgoyne will present Lowry Workout, a performance that will take place within the LS Lowry Collection Galleries. Performers will imitate body language featured in Lowry’s figures, reiterating gestures repeatedly, while being inside the confines of handcrafted hessian sacks.
Burgoyne will also present a mass participatory performance entitled Post-it Note Disco on the closing weekend, featuring 100 participants covered head-to-toe in sticky notes. Each performer will dance and move until all the notes have fallen.
Exhibition Title: Greig Burgoyne, the one who was standing apart from me
Exhibition Dates: 11 March – 16 April 2023
Venue: The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, M50 3AZ
Web: thelowry.com
Gallery Opening Times: Tue-Fri 11am-5pm | Sat-Sun 10am-5pm | Closed Mon, except bank holidays.
