The spectacle becomes the spectator for new exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Rachel Graves is pictured with 'Reclining Figure' 1946 by F.E. McWilliam, in front of Renovation Renovation Filter Lobby Diagram by Liam Gillick. Pictures by Scott Merrylees

FIGURATIVE sculpture becomes the viewer of art rather than the subject in a new exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

British artist Ryan Gander picked the works from the Arts Council’s 8,000-piece collection to be shown alongside by a new commission by himself at the West Bretton park’s Longside Gallery. For Night in the Museum, Chester-born Gander presents his new piece, As Old As Time Itself, Slept Alone, alongside work by more than 30 artists including Castleford-born Henry Moore, Roger Hiorns, Angela Bulloch and Wolfgang Tillmans.

He specially selected figurative sculpture that appears to be looking, and them presented the works so they appear to be gazing at other works featuring the colour blue - a colour that is particularly important in his own work, as he believes it represents the abstract ideas often found in modern and contemporary art

Gander said: “There is something about switching the roles of the spectator and the spectacle that is fascinating.

A visitor reflected in Museum Glass by Raphael Hefti. Picture Scott Merrylees

“When I look at sculptures of the human figure I am frequently left thinking of all the things that they’ve seen: the visitors to the museum, school children and art students attempting to earnestly recreate them in pastels and charcoal, the other artworks that surround them, artists and technicians installing, their maker perhaps, discreetly calling in on them with proud eyes. This is the world of the silent onlooker.”

Head of the Arts Council Collection, Jill Constantine, said Gander had deployed an “imaginative approach” to curate a “visually stunning” show.

Night in the Museum opens on July 16 until October 16.