Gareth Long’s Work in Progress was made as part of a suite of works foregrounding the mechanisms of artistic production. A looped depiction of the cartoon character Daffy Duck, seemingly locked in the throes of ‘writer’s block’, it points with humour to the sincerity and anguish of the creative process. Underlying Gareth Long’s diverse artistic practice is an interest in questioning and dismantling notions of authorship. The themes of copying, seriality, amateurism, stupidity, translation, and collaboration recur throughout his practice, both as a central thematic concern and as a method in the production of the work.   

Gareth Long (b.1979, Toronto) holds a BA in Visual Studies and Classical Civilizations from the University of Toronto and an MFA from Yale University. Long has held solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Wien, Austria; The Blaffer Art Museum, Houston; Oakville Galleries, Oakville; the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge; Kate Werble Gallery, New York; Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto; Galerie Bernhard, Zürich; Michael Benevento Gallery, Super Dakota, Brussels; Los Angeles; SpazioA, Pistoia; TORRI, Paris. His work has been shown at galleries and institutions such as MoMA PS1, Long Island City; The Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal; Artists Space, New York; Flat Time House, London; Spike Island, Bristol; Wiels, Brussels; Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe; and Witte de With, Rotterdam.

“Gareth Long’s Work in Progress (2010) was made as part of a suite of works foregrounding the mechanisms of artistic production. A looped depiction of the cartoon character Daffy Duck, seemingly locked in the throes of ‘writer’s block’, it points with humour to the sincerity and anguish of the creative process.”
– Frances Loeffler