Andrew Ranville was born 1981 in Michigan, United States. He lived and worked in London from 2006–2016, receiving his MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2008. Ranville’s expeditions, installations, sculptures, architectural interventions, photographs and films explore ideas related to landscape and community. The balance between the formal and functional aspects of the work often elicits viewer interaction, and is realized using ecologically sensitive methods which emphasize revitalization and resilience.
Ranville’s work has been exhibited internationally and installations of his work can be found—or have been shown—in countries including Australia, China, Costa Rica, Finland, Iceland, Morocco, Russia, Spain, UK and the USA. Ranville cofounded and developed the Rabbit Island Residency program, periodically living and working on the remote, 91-acre island located in Lake Superior. The Rabbit Island Foundation is a registered non-profit, with Ranville acting as Director and residency administrator.

Andrew Ranville
Instant Vista
Opening March 23, 2019
Closing April 28, 2019

“Instant” camera, “instant” pictures, “instant” memory. In 1948 Polaroid ushered in the pleasure of “instant” gratification to American consumers wishing to capture their memories in the moment of their making. By 1963 the Polaroid Land Camera was the rage. And although the competition, Kodak, had instamatic cameras that were easy to load, point and shoot, you still had to go through the process of processing. Today, after a half-century of technological advances, with “Instagram” offering instantaneous sharing and dissemination of selfies on devices, Polaroids – and other analogue processes – are making a nostalgia-fueled comeback.

Artist Andrew Ranville bears this history in mind in his Polaroid prints, which treat the unique Polaroid print object as sculpture and icon. Referencing the photo object as a part of the pictorial process, he then makes the actual Polaroids precious by showcasing them in display cases, or hanging them like icons on walls.

The PLAYhouse becomes a miniature temple for Ranville’s Polaroids in the exhibition Instant Vista. The vastness of the landscapes that comprise their subject matter is underscored by the miniature, intimate space inside the PLAYhouse. Here the venue and the objects interact as the PLAYhouse windows frame their own vistas of the outdoors and beyond.

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