Press Information
Graham Fagen's work revolves around the way contemporary identity, and its associated myths and fictions, can be expressed and interrogated. Fagen has developed a particular vocabulary, through the combination of sculpture and language, with which he explores the matrix of personal and cultural influences that impinge on the individual.

Fagen’s recent work has often focused around the relationship between an object or environment, its suggested narration or meaning, and the inherent disjunction that often exists between them. In his exhibition for Matt’s gallery the artist plays with the suggestion an d frustration narrative and identity. As in previous pieces, Peek-a-Jobby calls upon a setting in the everyday. Peek-a-Jobby presents a fragment of a narrative that is unexceptional in content until the last moment, appearing something like the genesis of an urban myth. The exhibition is composed of two interrelated parts: as the viewer enters the space they are handed a small booklet reminiscent of a script, that details a group of friends walking to another friend’s flat to watch videos; within the gallery a large blank wooden wall, not unlike a formal sculpture, almost cuts off the majority of the space from the viewer. The lighting suggests that the focus of the installation is behind the wall, however, once on the other side of the wall a scenario is revealed that resembles a stage or television ‘set’ of a living room.

As the viewer reads the scrip they become aware that the ‘set’ is a scene from the scrip. The set is however, unanimated, a selection of objects that are only given meaning through the accompanying narrative. The flat that the set depicts is the location of the main action of the script and of the climactic ending. After the evolution of an unexceptional narrative ­ of friends talking and an evening spent relaxing ­ the action culminates in the host performing a bizarre and obscene game to the amazement and surprise of his guests that seem unrelated to its previous context.

The reader/viewer is left suspended between the two related but disjointed locations ­ one physical, one textual ­ and between expectation and surprise. Within the matrix meaning becomes strangely fluid. Considerations of the division between the theatrical and the conceptual, and of how meaning can be created, corrupted and dismantled, are all elicited but left unresolved.

Given the conclusion of Fagen’s script the viewer may decide that the artist’s intent is to demonstrate that there is nothing more unpredictable or confounding than everyday events, and that they in turn approximate to actual experience. But even as meaning seems to settle here it is again rendered unstable as the viewer is reminded by the work’s very presentation within the conventions of theatre that it is a creation of imagination and as such will always remain unreliable.

At the close of the exhibition the gallery will publish a catalogue which will document Peek-a-Jobby in the context of the artist’s previous works. Through the selection of particular works by the artist and specially written texts the publication will explore the artist’s concerns with identity and narrative, the creation and confusion of meaning, and the interrelation of sculpture and language. Graham Fagen was born in Glasgow in 1966, where he continues to live and work. This is his first one person exhibition in London.

Biography
Born 1966 Glasgow, UK, Lives and works in Glasgow Studied 1989-90 Interdisciplinary MA in Art & Architecture, Kent Institute of Art & Design, Canterbury;1984-88 BA (Hons) Degree, Fine Art, Sculpture, Glasgow School of Art Solo Exhibitions: 2006 Closer, doggerfisher, Edinburgh; Killing Time with Graham Eatough, Dundee Contemporary Arts; Graham Fagen e Flavio Favelli, Nuova Icona Gallery, Venice; Tart Contemporary, San Franscisco; 2005 True Love, City Projects, London; Clean Hands Pure Heart, Tramway, Glasgow; 2002 Visions For The Future - Graham Fagen, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Glasgow Vennel Gallery, Irvine Italian Institute, London 2001 Graham Fagen, Galerie Valeria Belvedere, Milan 2000 Theatre, Imperial War Museum, London; Graham Fagen, Installation & Archive, Yorkshire Sculpture Park 1999 Subversive on the Side of a Lunatic, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; Graham Fagen at the Botanics, Inverleith House, Edinburgh and Galerie Valeria Belvedere, Milan 1998 Peek-a-Jobby, Matt's Gallery, London 1996-97 Graham Fagen in collaboration with Sydney Devine & Dennis Hopper Transmission Gallery, Glasgow Selected Group Exhibitions: Busan Biennial, Metropolitan Art Museum, Busan, Korea; Art & Industry Biennial Christchurch, New Zealand; I don't know my name, Tart Contemporary, San Fransisco; Another Garden Show, Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Art of the Garden, Tate Britain, London 2003 where is my home? Nuova Icona, Venice and Macka Sanat Galerisi, Istanbul Biennale, Turkey; The Possibility of Seeing: The Artist, Photography and the Representation of Conflict, Fotogallery, Chapter, Cardiff; Mars, Art & War, Landesmuseum, Graz, Austria; Sanctuary, GOMA, Glasgow, UK; To the care of the British Empire, Generator, Dundee; Nurseryworld, Jennifer Flay, Paris2002-2004 Reality Check, touring exhibition organised by the British Council and Photographers Gallery, London - Gallery Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic; Bunkier Gallery, Oracow, Poland; Latvia Arsenals, Riga; Latvia House of Artists, Zagreb 2001/02 different/diverse, Western Front Gallery & Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, and Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Venice; G3NY13, Casey Kaplan, New York, curated by Douglas Gordon; Definition, Murray Guy, New York 2000/01 Black Box Recorder, British Council Touring Exhibition; Petty Cash, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art and York City Art Gallery; The British Art Show 5, National Touring Exhibitions, Hayward Gallery, touring from Edinburgh to Southampton, Cardiff & Birmingham 2000 Highlights: Contemporary Scottish Artists Book, Printed Matter, New York; The Archibald Campbell and Harley WS Photography Prize 2000, Stills, Edinburgh; 45eme salon de Montrouge 2, place Emile-Cresp, Montrouge, France 1999 Graham Fagen & Michelle Segre, Murray Guy Gallery, New York; The Sea, The Sea, Murray Guy Gallery, New York; The Golden Age, ICA, London; Word Enough to Save a Life, Word Enough to Take a Life, Clare College Mission Church, London; BACKSPACE, Matt's Gallery, London; A Touch of Evil, Metronom, Barcelona 1998 Graham Fagen, Terry Smith, Centre Civic Can Felipa, Barcelona; Resonate, Grassy Knoll Productions, Belfast; From Here - Wallpapervideo, High Street Project, Christchurch, New Zealand; Intervencions, Art Public, Barcelona; Reverend Todds Full House, College Green House, Belfast; One Way Karma, 83 Hill Street, Glasgow 1997 European Couples and Others, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; Periphery, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany; Waterfront, Catalyst Arts, Belfast; Musee Imaginaire, Museum of Installation, London 1996 Art for People, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; Fall Out, Wacker Kunst, Darmstadt; Notell Motel, Moat House Hotel, Glasgow 1995 Gramercy Park Hotel Art Fair, New York (with Lisson Gallery, London) and Gallery Valeria Belvedere, Milan 1994 Facts of Life, 102 Gallery, Dusseldorf; Modern Art, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow 1993 Wonderful Life, Lisson Gallery, London; Billboard Project, Birmingham; Media-Life, Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York Screenings: 2001 Nothank and Theatre, Persistence of Vision, The Edinburgh Film Festival Webcast: 2002 Radio Roselle@swansong.tv

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