Work No. 299

2003 - Photography (Photography)

75 x 100 cm

Martin Creed

This photograph of Martin Creed himself was used as the invitation card for a fundraising auction of works on paper at Christie’s South Kensington in support of Camden Arts Centre’s first year in a refurbished building in 2005. His broad smile, on the verge of laughter, encourages reciprocity on behalf of the onlooker. This could be said to be a typical tactic in Creed’s work as it is so infused with humor and irony. To him, art is like a game, or certainly very much a part of banal reality. Within the genre of self-portraits, this subverts the usual tradition of images of the artist as creator. Creed often jokes or questions whether the artwork (or in this case the persona of the artist) has any value or exists. Standing in front of a very British brick wall which likely carries art historical connections and puns, Creed seems to mock or certainly stand amazed at his own commercial success. In 2001, he won the Turner Prize with his controversial Work No. 227. The Lights Going on and off. “I want to make things. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s got something to do with other people. I think I want to try to communicate with other people, because I want to say ‘hullo’, because I want to express myself, and because I want to be loved”.

Martin Creed is a sculptor, filmmaker, performer and installation artist. Working within a minimal or conceptual mode, most of his artworks, objects, statements, suggestions or performances are titled “Work” and numbered. He wittily subverts the definitions of art and often uses mundane modest materials such as Blu-Tack, balloons, tape, piles of paper. In 1993, Work No. 81 consisted of a one-inch cube of masking tape in the middle of every wall in a London firm and since 1998 Work No. 200 proposes “the air in a given space” through filling it with balloons. Yet any anti-materialism is occasionally counteracted like in the marble staircase realized for the city of Edinburgh or the bronze sculptures. Creed is constantly reappraising things and nothings and all incumbent relations. During 5 months in 2008, Work No. 280 London runners sprinting one by one through the Duveen Galleries in Tate Britain. Martin Creed was born in Wakefield, UK, 1968. He lives and works in London, UK and Alicudi, Italy.

Colors:

• materialism.n.01
• mundane.s.02
• appropriation.n.03
• materiality.n.02
• sculptural.a.01
• minimalism.n.01
• abject art
• conceptual art
• british
• contemporary artist
• scottish contemporary artists
• born 1968
• neo-conceptual art
• art intervention
• british conceptual artists
• installation artist
• relational art