Ibiza. Home to hedonism, hippies and…high art? This month two contemporary heavyweights come together at Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa to ‘merge and interplay’ their practices, whilst commenting on the moment after the party (and after the after party) when ‘emptiness and paranoia’ come into play. This, folks, is After the After, brought to you by Tobias Rehberger and Douglas Gordon.
Both born in 1966 — Rehberger in Germany, Gordon in Scotland — these artists have been making their mark on the art world for the last couple of decades. Gordon won the Turner Prize in 1996 (when it was very cool) and in 2009 Rehberger won the Golden Lion for best artist at the 53rd Venice Biennial. Rehberger caused a stir at Basel this year, displaying a large installation with Berlin’s Neugerriemschneider that featured tiled walls and pillars that were mounted with sex toys.
Continuing the theme — and the method — here, Rehberger has created a mammoth, 5 x 5m ‘tile painting’ of the top half of two men during intercourse, that is displayed outside the gallery. The set up of the tiles distorts and abstracts the image, only clearly visible from a distance or when viewed through a smart phone. Gordon responds to this with a film inside the exhibition, that shows both of the men’s legs moving around during the act.
Elsewhere the artists have created many more obviously combined works, producing joint sculptures and films. There is also a selection of portraits that they have created of each other. The many stages of artistic collaboration are captured here; borrowing themes from each other’s work, producing work in unison and responding to one another’s ideas.
The exhibition spills out to the island itself, Rehberger and Gordon covering a billboard that usually advertises Cocoon Club to punters on their way from the airport, with spray paint and large illuminated letters to promote their own show. Despite the fact that both artists are fully established and well-versed in their own practices, this feels like a very open and experimental collaboration, that fits well with the sprit of the island.
We’d expect nothing less, it’s got a good few years before the party’s really over.
After the After, Douglas Gordon and Tobias Rehberger runs until 4 October 2015 at Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa, Ibiza
