t Hauser & Wirth’s Savile Row gallery, Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed showcases his latest body of work, including a massive sculpture that spins and a new single called, Thinking/Not Thinking. From tracks with the words 'fuck' and 'off'
At Hauser & Wirth’s Savile Row gallery, Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed showcases his latest body of work, including a massive sculpture that spins and a new single called, Thinking/Not Thinking. From tracks with the words 'fuck' and 'off' over and over again to sculptures made of stacked chairs to comical ballet pieces, Creed approaches the art world armed with a keen sense of humor. Sitting down with AnOther, the audacious multi-media artist opens up about the difficulty of working, what impels him to make art and the trouble he has with mothers.
What is the story behind your most recent sculpture, ‘Mothers’?
Mothers has been in progress for years and years. It came about when I was asked to make a proposal for a public work for an airport in Germany, but it never ended up happening because of budget cuts, I think. I don’t really know how Mothers came to me other than thinking it was a word that could be done really big. Working on this piece has made me sick, literally sick. On my way to some meetings about it last year, I remember thinking, “Oh my God, do I really want to do this? What the fuck am I doing?” I think that mothers are difficult in general, so maybe that’s why it was such a difficult work for me. I think the relationship between the mother and child is the most difficult and powerful of all human relationships.
Do you have a video coming out with your new single?
Yes. I took the film footage quite a while ago, but I often take a while with things and it never worked out before. The video is a new work and it has two dogs, a Chihuahua and an Irish wolfhound. The little dog represents thinking and the big dog represents not thinking and they come in and out depending on the lyrics. I found the dogs by accident when I was out trying to buy a panel. I saw this man with these two dogs and I thought they looked amazing together, like a ready-made sculpture.
It seems you prefer working on projects gradually. Is there a reason for this?
I prefer to work on a lot of different things, but slowly so I have the chance to live with each of these different projects. I think that’s what proves a work over time, if it keeps coming back to you. Often I don’t know what I want to do. I feel like I’m stupid, like I’m a plant. So I need to stand back and study myself over time to see if it’s something I want to do. I think you shouldn’t trust yourself too quickly: if you trust yourself too much you take the route of least resistance and if I did that, I’d end up on the sofa eating chocolate and watching TV.
I’ve read that your work springs from worrying. Is this true?
As far as I can make out, I do things in order to try to feel better because a lot of the time I feel bad. Feeling better, for me, isn’t about feeling comfortable because then I’d wind up staying on the sofa. I want excitement and that involves pushing yourself to do things. It might even involve you feeling bad, but it’s still more exciting than staying at home. Sometimes, I feel like trying to work is like trying to walk through mud. Motivating yourself can be terrible. One thing to do is to take yourself to a cliff and jump off metaphorically because if you jump, you have to swim. I think that’s the reason why I do my shows.
Mothers at Hauser & Wirth, London opens on 21 January and runs until 5 March 2011.
Text by Tamzin Baker
