Art & Language's 'Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me? II' at Lisson Gallery Questions Art's Relationship to Power
At Lisson Gallery, Art & Language presents the 2014 piece 'Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me? II', which showcases 16 vitrines, each holding two sheets of paper. The upper sheet outlines portraits of political figures such as Xi Jinping and Hugo Chávez, emphasizing light and shadow to obscure the actual images. This setup illustrates power relationships, positioning Tony Blair between Rupert Murdoch and Mahmoud Abbas, with Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu in proximity. Other featured works include the Sea Ghost canvases (2014), Drawings from the Winter (2012-13), and Nobody Spoke (2013-14). The exhibition revisits themes from Art & Language's history, probing the relationship between visual art, market influences, and power dynamics.
Key facts
- Art & Language's exhibition includes the 2014 work 'Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me? II'
- The work features 16 vitrines with textual descriptions of political figures' portraits
- Descriptions focus exclusively on light and shadow details
- Figures include Hugo Chávez, Xi Jinping, Tony Blair, Rupert Murdoch, Mahmoud Abbas, Barack Obama, and Benjamin Netanyahu
- The exhibition includes Sea Ghost canvases (2014), Drawings from the Winter (2012-13), and Nobody Spoke installation (2013-14)
- Art & Language has concealed images since their late 1960s Secret Paintings
- The group began questioning visual art's conditions in their 1969 journal Art-Language
- The exhibition was reviewed in the January & February 2015 issue of ArtReview
Entities
Artists
- Art & Language
Institutions
- Lisson Gallery
- ArtReview