Current

Christian Patterson | Gong Co.

Store View (East), 2019, Pigment print, 81 x 102 cm (32 x 40 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
Store View (East), 2019, Pigment print, 81 x 102 cm (32 x 40 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
1/5
Store Window Still Life (Green), 2023, Pigment print, 41 x 51 cm (16 x 20 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
Store Window Still Life (Green), 2023, Pigment print, 41 x 51 cm (16 x 20 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
2/5
Coca-Cola Wall, 2013, Pigment print, 81 x 102 cm (32 x 40 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
Coca-Cola Wall, 2013, Pigment print, 81 x 102 cm (32 x 40 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
3/5
Newspaper Window (Red), 2016, Pigment print, 81 x 102 cm (32 x 40 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
Newspaper Window (Red), 2016, Pigment print, 81 x 102 cm (32 x 40 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
4/5
Bottles and Shadows, 2017, Pigment print, 41 x 51 cm (16 x 20 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
Bottles and Shadows, 2017, Pigment print, 41 x 51 cm (16 x 20 in), Edition of 5 + 2AP
5/5

‘Gong Co.’ is a long-form, monumental memento mori to the decline, death, and decay of a small grocery store in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, made over 20 years between 2003 and 2023. When US artist Christian Patterson first discovered the store, it was still open for business, its shelves scattered with decades-old, expired products; an odd, unintentional time capsule seemingly fulfilling Andy Warhol’s prophecy that ‘Someday, all department stores will become museums and all museums will become department stores.’

Over the course of many years, Patterson revisited and documented the store, first as it was going out of business and then after it was closed with the products on its shelves left to rot. The result is a multi-layered work that tells of the passing of time and the transience of meaning. In the store, we see the remains of what was bought and what was left behind, an uncanny reflection on 20th-century America and a passing way of life. And in ‘going out of business’, Patterson finds something surprisingly personal – an existential allegory that is undeniably universal.

Christian Patterson (*1972, Fond du Lac, USA) lives and works in New York City. His working method is a highly conceptual, narrative-driven approach, often involving intense research, archival digging and extended, concentrated time working in the field and his New York studio. Photographs remain at the heart of Patterson’s work but are often accompanied by other mediums – anything from drawings and paintings to readymade objects. Patterson’s work is exhibited internationally. ‘Gong Co.’ won the Grand Prix des Images in Vevey, and Images Vevey Editions and TBW Books published a book on the series in 2024.

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