Thursday, March 24, 2016

How to Work Better

When we visited the Guggenheim we saw the Peter Fischli/David Weiss exhibit, How to Work Better. Quirky, funny, and subversive are words that come to mind. I hope this exhibit, or a part of it,  eventually finds its way to Toronto, so I can go again (and again).

Hundreds of clay figures, hundreds of polyurethane sculptures of ordinary objects, thousands of postcard images, kinetic sculptures, videos...  The sheer volume of the works on display was impressive, and the Guggenheim a perfect venue to show them off.

From 1979 to 2012, Swiss artists Peter Fischli (b. 1952) and David Weiss (1946–2012) collaborated on a body of work that offers a deceptively casual meditation on how we perceive everyday life. Discover how their sculptures, photographs, videos, and installations juxtapose the spectacular and the ordinary, questioning our understanding of reality and inviting a state of wonder. catalog description

I half expected these clay figures to start dancing, they were so animated. Suddenly This Overview
The guys in front are labelled 'Popular Opposites: Silly and Funny'
Fischli and Weiss fabricated each and every one of these objects. Perfect visual replications that have absolutely no utility, flawlessly rendered. Useless?


Practical advice 
also includes
8. Accept Change as Inevitable
7. Admit mistakes
8. Say it simple
9. Be calm
10. Smile

(I'm using the numbering on the exhibit)







No comments: