Beschreibung:

Martin Creed Work No. 134: Largo, larghetto, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, presto e prestissimo 1995 Eight electronic Yamaha QT-1 metronomes Each: 23.6 × 23.6 × 11 cm (9.3 × 9.3 × 4.3 in); overall dimensions variable. This work is from an edition of 1 plus 1 artist's proof and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Provenance Analix Forever, Geneva Exhibited Geneva, Analix Forever, Martin Creed and Stefan Altenburger 7 December 1995 - 27 January 1996 Catalogue Essay For over twenty years, conceptual artist Marin Creed has combined wit and humour in his instinctive anti-materialist artistic practice. While indebted to the Minimal and Conceptual art movements from the 1960s, the Turner Prize winning artist’s work is infused with a playfulness reminiscent of the Dadaists and the Surrealists. Predating his iconic Work No. 227, The lights going on and off, the present lot, Work No. 134, is an early exploration of the banality of everyday life and everyday existence using the incessant repetitive ticking emitted from a set of metronomes. Simultaneously beating at a different speed, each metronome maintains a consistent tempo around a fixed beat thereby creating a collective dissonant cacophony from an individual rhythmic precision. Expanding upon Minimalist notions of repetition and progression using sound, Martin Creed perfectly achieves with Work No. 134 the concept of controlled chaos and chance which permeates his entire oeuvre. In addition to depicting the hopeless romantic ideal of the eternal, the metronome’s perpetual monotone clicks raise fundamental questions about the relationship between art and music. One is immediately reminded of the work of legendary American composer John Cage who pioneered chance music through his use of non-standard musical instruments. Both Cage, a musician who created art, and Creed, an artist who creates music, explore in their work the process of being alive. Read More