Gray Wielebinski
Pain and Glory, 2022
Steel, coloured perspex, mechanical rodeo bull with fibreglass body, leather saddle and cowhide jacket, custom-printed inflatable mat, electric air fan, operating console and audio
220 x 500 x 500 cm
86 5/8 x 196 7/8 x 196 7/8 in
86 5/8 x 196 7/8 x 196 7/8 in
Gray Wielebinski (b. 1991 Dallas, TX, USA) received a BA from Pomona College, Claremont CA, USA in 2014 before completing an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London,...
Gray Wielebinski (b. 1991 Dallas, TX, USA) received a BA from Pomona College, Claremont CA, USA in 2014 before completing an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK in 2018. They live and work in both London, UK and Los Angeles, CA, USA.
In Wielebinski's expansive practice, incorporating video, performance, collage, installation, sculpture, and more, they explore the intersections of mythology, identity, gender, nationhood, and memory. Reconfiguring and transforming iconography and visual codes, their work seeks to navigate and question society's frameworks and belief systems. Wielebinski deftly confronts realities in order to imagine and propose alternatives.
Mythology weaves a strong thread throughout Wielebinski’s works, they draw on both ancient and contemporary myths that exist in our daily lives. Their interest in myth making stemmed from an upbringing in Dallas, Texas, which created a deep fascination with Americana, particularly the narratives that surround cowboys and sports. Wielebinski notes that Texas has a potent mythologizing of itself and a specific history and culture. They then moved to Los Angeles, California which has its own relationship to fantasy and myth making via Hollywood. Wielebinski states ‘myths past and present can tell us a lot about power and who is able to craft and retell narratives. So, I think it’s supremely relevant and necessary to revisit and interrogate them and make our own.’
‘Pain and Glory’ (2022) is Wielebinski’s outstanding installation for the 2022 Bold Tendencies Commission, London, UK. A fully functional mechanical bull is fenced in by a beautifully ornate, tall steel pen, inviting the viewer to ride, to watch and be watched. When there is no rider, there is a trace of the spectacle.
The work speaks to a complicated form of “love” — using the anthropomorphic lens to explore the limitations of what we can truly know about love. The work explores multiple threads, including the idea of ‘taming’ someone or something — which is common vernacular when speaking about romantic love. Wielebinski highlights the importance of a willingness to surrender to love, a love that cannot be tamed.
The fenced area is suggestive of the intimacy found in queer spaces, in certain types of nightlife — bath houses, dark rooms and strip clubs. An intimacy inextricably linked to sexuality, the sharing of these spaces, mutual risk and danger as well as pleasure, trust and vulnerability. Wielebinski notes:
The undulation of a mechanical bull has obvious sexual connotations and the mechanical bull already has a role in nightlife venues such as dive bars, but it is also this witnessing and being witnessed in a moment of performativity, vulnerability, a dance between domination and submission that I hope can engender its own type of intimacy and connection and
awareness of ourselves in a space and in time together. (2022)
In Wielebinski's expansive practice, incorporating video, performance, collage, installation, sculpture, and more, they explore the intersections of mythology, identity, gender, nationhood, and memory. Reconfiguring and transforming iconography and visual codes, their work seeks to navigate and question society's frameworks and belief systems. Wielebinski deftly confronts realities in order to imagine and propose alternatives.
Mythology weaves a strong thread throughout Wielebinski’s works, they draw on both ancient and contemporary myths that exist in our daily lives. Their interest in myth making stemmed from an upbringing in Dallas, Texas, which created a deep fascination with Americana, particularly the narratives that surround cowboys and sports. Wielebinski notes that Texas has a potent mythologizing of itself and a specific history and culture. They then moved to Los Angeles, California which has its own relationship to fantasy and myth making via Hollywood. Wielebinski states ‘myths past and present can tell us a lot about power and who is able to craft and retell narratives. So, I think it’s supremely relevant and necessary to revisit and interrogate them and make our own.’
‘Pain and Glory’ (2022) is Wielebinski’s outstanding installation for the 2022 Bold Tendencies Commission, London, UK. A fully functional mechanical bull is fenced in by a beautifully ornate, tall steel pen, inviting the viewer to ride, to watch and be watched. When there is no rider, there is a trace of the spectacle.
The work speaks to a complicated form of “love” — using the anthropomorphic lens to explore the limitations of what we can truly know about love. The work explores multiple threads, including the idea of ‘taming’ someone or something — which is common vernacular when speaking about romantic love. Wielebinski highlights the importance of a willingness to surrender to love, a love that cannot be tamed.
The fenced area is suggestive of the intimacy found in queer spaces, in certain types of nightlife — bath houses, dark rooms and strip clubs. An intimacy inextricably linked to sexuality, the sharing of these spaces, mutual risk and danger as well as pleasure, trust and vulnerability. Wielebinski notes:
The undulation of a mechanical bull has obvious sexual connotations and the mechanical bull already has a role in nightlife venues such as dive bars, but it is also this witnessing and being witnessed in a moment of performativity, vulnerability, a dance between domination and submission that I hope can engender its own type of intimacy and connection and
awareness of ourselves in a space and in time together. (2022)
Exhibitions
Motherboy, Gio Marconi Gallery, Milan, Italy (2023 - 2024)
Love, Bold Tendencies, London, UK (2022)