Martin Creed, a British multimedia artist and musician born in 1968, has established himself as a significant and often debated figure in contemporary art.
Best known for his Turner Prize-winning installation of lights going on and off, Creed’s practice delves into the everyday, employing familiar objects and actions to challenge our perceptions of art, value, and the world around us.
His work, often imbued with humor and a deliberate simplicity, invites viewers to question the very definition of art and its place in our lives. This blog post explores six important artworks by Martin Creed, offering insights into his conceptual approach and the thought-provoking experiences they generate.
1. Work No.88: A sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball (1995)
One of Creed’s earlier and conceptually potent works, Work No.88 consists of a simple sheet of A4 paper tightly crumpled into a ball.
Presented in a cardboard box surrounded by shredded paper packaging also designed by Creed, this piece initially appears almost dismissible.
However, it evokes a range of interpretations, including the potential and anxiety of a blank page and the possible frustration inherent in the creative process.
The seemingly imperfect crumpled ball contrasts with its near-perfect spherical form, highlighting a subtle craftsmanship. Creed himself has remarked on the skill involved in creating these “beautifully made…rafted objects”.
The work also presents a “cheekiness” that reflects Creed’s critical perspective on capitalist reproduction and consumer culture.
The use of crumpled paper to protect crumpled paper underscores the potential absurdity of assigning monetary and conceptual value to such an everyday item. Contemporary artist Ann Jones suggests that the work is not meant to be revered but rather greeted with a “wry smile”.
Despite its apparent simplicity, Work No.88 effectively questions the material requirements of art and the often-inflated value placed on art objects within the market.
Creed’s statement that people do buy them and display them in their homes further emphasizes this incredulous relationship with the contemporary art market.
2. Work 200: Half the Air In A Given Space (1998)
Source: artsy.net
Work 200: Half the Air In A Given Space is an installation defined by a set of instructions: calculate the volume of a space and then fill it with white 12-inch balloons until they occupy half of that volume.
This work is inherently site-specific and takes on a different physical form each time it is displayed, lacking permanent dimensions or appearance.
By physically representing something as ubiquitous yet often unnoticed as air, Creed makes the everyday strange and prompts the audience to reconsider their surroundings. This concept echoes the work of artists like Andy Warhol with his Silver Clouds.
Work 200 also challenges conventional gallery behavior, as there is no prescribed way to interact with the piece.
Art critic Jonathan Jones observed that in one instance, the balloon-filled room became a playful space for families, suggesting that the artwork’s significance lies in the relationships it fosters between people rather than the object itself.
Creed’s musical themes often touch upon the “weight of materialism,” and this airy installation can be seen as an antidote, demanding space and lightness. Jones aptly uses this work as a metaphor for Creed’s overall artistic practice, suggesting that one can either dismiss it or engage with its playful nature and find enjoyment in the experience.
3. Work No. 227: The lights going on and off (2000)
Source: martincreed.com
Perhaps Creed’s most notorious work, Work No. 227: The lights going on and off consists of an otherwise empty room in which the lights alternately switch on for five seconds and off for five seconds, repeating endlessly.
This installation utilizes the existing light fittings and interior space of the gallery, thus avoiding the introduction of external equipment.
Its subtlety can lead to it being mistaken for a malfunctioning light fixture, placing the onus on the viewer to interpret its significance within the institutional and commercial context of the gallery.
Creed himself likens Work No. 227 to a musical score, a set of instructions for a performance rather than a traditional physical installation. This aligns with the influence of musical rhythm and notation that permeates his entire artistic practice.
Contemporary artist Maurizio Cattelan interprets the alternating light and dark as representative of the periodic changes in human mood, a constant cycle of happiness and anxiety.
While praised by the Turner Prize judges for its deceptively complex engagement with space and rhythm, the work also provoked significant media ridicule, questioning its status as art and even inspiring a parodic “Turnip Prize”.
This controversy, however, became part of the work’s impact, highlighting the ongoing debate surrounding conceptual art.
4. Work No. 975 EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT (2009)
Source: nationalgalleries.org
Work No. 975 EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT is a large neon sign displaying this hopeful phrase.
Initially designed for the facade of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to mark its 50th anniversary, it has since become an integral part of the gallery’s identity and has been replicated in various locations, including Times Square in New York and the Rennie Museum in Vancouver.
The context of the installation significantly influences its interpretation. In the commercial environment of Times Square, the phrase can evoke the often-hollow reassurances of marketing, while at the Edinburgh museum, it offers a sense of public comfort, particularly during the long winter nights.
Positioned against the traditional architecture of the museum, the modernist neon sign creates a striking contrast, reflecting the museum’s focus on modern art within a neo-classical building.
Despite its bold visual presence, the work invites a contemplative response, aligning with Creed’s desire to communicate and interact with viewers, hoping they will derive “some excitement or thought or a little experience” from it.
Some critics suggest that the declarative nature of the phrase encourages viewers to question its truthfulness, creating a tension “between melancholia and exuberance”. In its medium and impact, it shares similarities with Creed’s Turner-winning Work No. 227.
5. Work 1105 (2011)
Source: tate-images.com
Work 1105 is a painting comprised of five thick strokes of dark red acrylic paint on a white canvas. The bottom stroke spans the entire width, with each subsequent stroke decreasing in height and width, creating an effect reminiscent of a stepped pyramid or ziggurat.
This work is part of a series that Creed began after returning to painting, a medium he had become disillusioned with during his art student years.
These paintings align with Creed’s minimalist approach and his ambiguous relationship with traditional artistic skill and convention. They resist representational analysis, echoing the experiential minimalism of painters like Mark Rothko.
The height of each stroke in Work 1105 corresponds to the size of each brush in a standard pack of household brushes, demonstrating Creed’s self-imposed limitations on choice in his artistic process. He has explicitly denied any notion of skill in the creation of these images, adhering instead to a predetermined formula.
Journalist Miranda Sawyer notes that the ziggurat series is governed by a set of rules dictated by the dimensions of the brushes and the canvas, making the works “part random, part ordered”. This systematic approach shares common ground with the instructions-based nature of Work 200 and Work No. 227.
6. Work no.1059 (2011)
Work no.1059 represents Creed’s commissioned restoration of the Scotsman Steps in Edinburgh.
Formerly in disrepair but a significant historical part of the cityscape, Creed transformed the public’s perception of the steps by cladding each of the 104 steps in a different type of marble.
This concept may have been inspired by Italian techniques, given Creed’s residence near Sicily and Scotland’s history of Italian immigration.
The idea aligns with Creed’s 2010 exhibition “Down Over Up,” which explored progressions by degree in various forms. The installation required two years of architectural engineering and intricate stonework.
Art critic Jonathan Jones praises Work no.1059 as a successful piece of public art that blurs the lines between art and everyday life, calling it a “generous, modest masterpiece”.
The subtle beauty of the marble cladding enriches the experience of using the steps, and like many of Creed’s installations, it might not even be recognized as an artwork until it is pointed out.
Creed emphasizes the importance of how the work is experienced in the world, believing that it takes on new life each time someone walks on it, akin to a musical score being reinterpreted with each performance.
This permanent installation exemplifies Creed’s interest in integrating art into the fabric of everyday life rather than keeping it confined to gallery spaces
