Jim Lambie
Photo: Adrian Barry Courtesy of The Artist, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, Sadie Coles, London
Jim Lambie
Mental Oyster, installation view, Anton Kern Gallery New York, 2004
Courtesy of The Artist, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, Sadie Coles, London
Jim Lambie
Mental Oyster, installation view, Anton Kern Gallery New York, 2004
Courtesy of The Artist, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, Sadie Coles, London
Jim Lambie
Shoulder Pad, installation view, Sadie Coles, London 2005
Courtesy of The Artist, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, Sadie Coles, London
Jim Lambie
Installation view, Turner Prize 2005 exhibition
© Tate 2005
Jim Lambie takes the ephemera of modern life and transforms it into vibrant sculptural installations. Working with items immediately to hand, as well as those sourced in second-hand and hardware stores, he resurrects record decks, speakers, clothing, accessories, doors and mirrors to form sculptural elements in larger compositions.
Jim Lambie’s work
Lambie prioritises sensory pleasure over intellectual response. He selects materials that are familiar and have a strong personal resonance, so that they offer a way into the work as well as a springboard to a psychological space beyond.
Lambie’s works are often devised in relation to a specific space, where they are shaped by a series of intuitive and improvisatory decisions. This enables him to work in tune with the qualities of his materials and the parameters of the existing architecture.
This work forms a kaleidoscopic platform for his sculptures: specially commissioned enlargements of bird ornaments, found in junk shops, are subjected to a characteristic process of customisation. The installation is named after sixties rock band The Kinks, whose silhouettes form the black Rorschach shape on the wall. Lambie’s prime concern, however, is the immediate encounter between viewer and work.