Lee Ranaldo, Galerie Jan Dhaese, Gent

Lee Ranaldo, Drawing from Lost Highways, 2012/2013
Galerie Jan Dhaese, Gent
Image courtesy of the gallery

Lost Highways, the most recent solo exhibition by Sonic Youth guitarist and member of The Dust and other bands, Lee Ranaldo, opens to the public at Galerie Jan Dhaese on March, 30th, 2014. The works in the exhibition are consisted of drawings made by the artist while on the road, literally. Sitting in the front seat of the vehicle but rarely the driver, Ranaldo made sketches of the road/s that were before him. Signifying movement, time and timelessness, the drawings are simple varying in the degree of detail executed.

Lee Ranaldo, Drawing from Lost Highways, 2012/2013
Galerie Jan Dhaese, Gent
Image courtesy of the gallery

Compositionally they are enveloping, even for a small-scale. The inevitable perspective of the road, is a welcoming one and will draw the viewer into the otherwise flat space. Working mostly in graphite there are a few drawings in color made with watercolor. Landscapes can be so minimal, and here Ranaldo makes brief and deliberate notations, only using the most necessary gestures to communicate the space. In a very quick read, probably in a similar time-frame that was required to make the drawing, the viewer is able to understand the abstraction of a horizon. We quickly identify the artificial map before us, earth by way of a tar paved surface. Geometric yet fluid lines amass a form and allow for us to decipher the shape of land, trees, a road, all without the hint or reference to actual place. In excerpt from his text introduction the this particular body of work Ranaldo, who is based in New York, writes:

Over time certain iconographic images developed, certain curves in the road, views through breaks in the trees that were seen over and over again, no matter where one was traveling. The road, like the river, is ever-changing and ever the same.

The drawings on this page were done between the summer of 2012 and the end of 2013, as my band The Dust set out across Europe, North and South America, and even India. A series done from the passenger seat of Mercedes Sprinter Van as we traveled on the Autobahn across Germany, and into Denmark. Another created while driving through the Eastern United States, from Connecticut to Virginia, New York City to Ohio. Later series track routes in Nova Scotia, Canada, on the route from Halifax to Cape Breton, through Spanish deserts, and south along the west coast from Vancouver to San Diego.

Lee Ranaldo, Drawing from Lost Highways, 2012/2013
Galerie Jan Dhaese, Gent
Image courtesy of the gallery

Lee Ranaldo, Lost Highways is on view at Galerie Jan Dhaese from March 30th-May 5th, 2014.

More soon!

xo