Concept artist Ryan Gander 'crowned'

INTERNATIONAL conceptual artist Ryan Gander has spoken of his pride at his ‘coronation’ at the Manchester School of Art Graduation 2014.

The Chester-born artist, currently showing work at Manchester Art Gallery, was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts for his contribution to the creative industries today (Tuesday, July 22).

And he joked that it was extra special after his four-year-old daughter woke him up early on his big day, saying “Daddy, today it’s your Coronation!”

Ryan graduated from Manchester School of Art in 1999 but has already become one of the most significant conceptual artists in the UK, with work on show at Tate Modern, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Modern Art New York and The National Museum of Art, Osaka.

As one of Britain’s foremost contemporary artists, he was commissioned to occupy the main space at Documenta 2012 in Germany (the world’s major art festival), and he also showed in the 2011 Venice Biennale.

The BBC Culture Show in a recent feature described him as a “cultural magpie” whose works are cryptic, playful and challenging.

At MMU, he studied Interactive Arts, still the only honours course of its kind in the UK and puts much of his outlook down to the “creative freedom” his studies permitted.

Half-jokingly, he said: “When I started at MMU I didn’t really know what I was doing, and when I left I still didn’t. It was only later on I realised that is what the course it about, it allows you to explore and be adventurous.”

Speaking to graduating students, Ryan, much of whose work revolves around storytelling and the imagination, said: “Believing an art requires faith, and as new artists, it’s now your job to make people in powerful positions have faith in art and in creativity.”

He said he wanted them to be ‘imagine-ers’ people with great ideas who make them a reality.

Penny Macbeth, Head of Art at MMU said: “We are extremely proud of Ryan and he has achieved already. As a student he was a maverick and challenged everything. Today he is extremely supportive of the next generation of artists in the School and we are very grateful for that.”

Ryan Gander’s exhibition ‘Make Every show like It’s your Last’ is currently on at the Manchester Art Gallery and he is also showing work at the Castlefield Gallery along with numerous artists linked to Manchester School of Art.