Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 9, 2005, Production still, © 2005 Matthew Barney, Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York, Photograph Chris Winget.

Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 9, 2005, Production still, © 2005 Matthew Barney, Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York, Photograph Chris Winget.

Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
020 7402 6075
London
Matthew Barney
September 20-November 11, 2007

Barney is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation. He is perhaps best known for the Cremaster cycle, a series of five feature-length films, produced from 1994-2002. Epic in scope, the series combines high production values with spectacular locations, props and costumes. These films depict a parallel mythological world, rich and complex in its symbolism.

Barney's practice encompasses a diverse array of media and is presented in exhibitions conceived by the artist as a gesamtkunstwerk, or total work.

The exhibition consists of sculpture, installation, performance, drawing and film from throughout the artist’s Drawing Restraint series, numbers 1 to 16. This series of works investigates the relationship between resistance and creativity, the effects of physical limitation being explored in the parallel realms of artistic and athletic endeavour. The Gallery will also collaborate with The Gate Cinema in London on a programme of screenings focusing on Barney’s most recent feature film, DRAWING RESTRAINT 9, 2005.

A number of spectacular, large-scale sculptures related to DRAWING RESTRAINT 9, including Ambergris, 2005, Holographic Entry Point, 2005 and Occidental Restraint, 2005, will be displayed at the Gallery. These works challenge conventional notions of sculptural media in their use of industrial material such as poly-carprolactone thermoplastic, expanded polystyrene and petroleum jelly.

Matthew Barney was born in San Francisco in 1967. He was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize in 1996 and has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions internationally. The complete Cremaster cycle was the subject of a major touring exhibition organised by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2002.

Matthew Barney, Holographic Entry Point, 2005, Self-lubricating plastic, polycaprolactone thermoplastic, shrimp shells, sea shells, cement, wood, steel, stainless steel, expanded polystyrene, vivac, pigment, acrylic paint, acrylic medium, sand, aquaplast, PVC Installation view Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Photograph 2005 Hyunsoo Kim, Courtesy Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, © 2005 Matthew Barney.