This artist's book collects the series "All the ambition in the world" (2024) by Ryan Gander, a series of posters for fictitious group exhibitions that never took place, but were imagined by the artist's mind.
"Whenever I am unable to sleep, I choose a museum, a space I know well, I choose a theme, I choose artists, artworks, collisions and... I curate. And although I do that only in my head, it seems to do the job... I drop off before I can begin to imagine the opening reception.
I love curating, but 90% of the enjoyment of that act probably constitutes 10% of the job; so I invented an activity for myself that would be more efficient in that pleasure to labour ratio. I call it Phantom Ambitions.
Over the past year or so, whilst making this project, many friends and visitors to the studio who saw these works, surprisingly to me, asked me different questions that invariably led me to consider, and to reconsider, my motives. The questions were in relation to whether I was making an idealised version of reality'... or whether, I guess, I was trying my best? Was my objective to try to make something that would please people? I've often thought that the essence of the motive of an artists actions are almost always more telling, and more interesting, than anything else about their practice."
Ryan Gander, extract from the foreword
Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Ryan Gander: Grunts, hoots, whimpers, barks and screams" at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, in 2024-2025.
Ryan Gander (born 1976 in Chester, UK, lives and works in Suffolk) has established an international reputation through artworks that materialise in many different forms—from sculpture to film, writing, graphic design, installation, performance and more besides. Through associative thought processes that connect the everyday and the esoteric, the overlooked and the commonplace. Gander's work involves a questioning of language and knowledge, as well as a reinvention of both the modes of appearance and the creation of an artwork. His work can be reminiscent of a puzzle, or a network with multiple connections and the fragments of an embedded story. It is ultimately a huge set of hidden clues to be deciphered, encouraging viewers to make their own associations and invent their own narrative in order to unravel the complexities staged by the artist.
