exhibition

04/09/2021 — 30/10/2021
JOEY RAMONE

HOME VIDEO


JOEY RAMONE presents the first exhibition of the Dutch artist Gyz La Rivière in the gallery. The exhibition consists of a solo presentation and a book release with the mutual title Home Videos

In the spirit of retro-futurism and with a warning about today's big data, La Rivière has produced a lot of new work in recent years. What most of these works have in common is that they reflect on the 'human' aspect that we are collectively losing, or have already lost. Yet the 'dystopian' also has its charm. Expect blank and pre-recorded video tapes, neon lights, a bronze VHS, and a pirate TV station in the exhibit. In the exhibition, La Rivière will capture the 'Gyzian' (abstract) atmosphere of the tobacconist Brooklyn Cigar Co. from the movie Smoke (1995). Many video stores had a similar vibe to the store where actor Harvey Keitel utters this beautiful, illustrative phrase:

“People say you have to travel to see the world. Sometimes I think if you just stay in one place and keep your eyes open, you'll see just about anything you can handle."

Gyz La Rivière

Gyz La Rivière (Rotterdam, 1976) is an artist, filmmaker, researcher and writer. He approaches his work as an idiosyncratic image archivist, combining self-made images with in-depth archival research, objects he finds on the street, loans from collections, infographics, logos, icons and stories. The dazzling Gyzian universe he forges from these diverse sources sharpens our view of the world around us in unexpected ways.

La Rivière studied fashion design at the Willem de Kooning Academy. In 2000, he graduated as the first student in the history of his school without a collection. In 2002 he received the Rotterdam Maaskant Prize. In 2011 he received the badge of honor 'The Praise of Folly' from the Erasmus Committee and in early 2013 he won the Dolf Henkes Prize for iconic Rotterdam artists. He also directed 'Rotterdam 2013' in 2040 and the film 'New Neapolis' in 2020. He recently published Rome'dam (2016) and 'New Neapolis – No Structure' (2017).