‘I like things’ - a solo exhibition by the british artist martin creed,
curated by the director of the nicola trussardi foundation,
massimiliano gioni.
the show features a range of new works by the young
conceptualist: a pair of wind machines; a pile of 126 sheets
of plywood; a white grand piano whose lid has been
mechanically rigged to open and shut automatically; and,
in the main hall, ‘the lights going on and off’,
the work that won creed the turner prize in 2001.

martin creed’s sculptures, installations and drawings
come from the objects, words, and sounds of everyday life.
constantly searching for the basic nature of things,
he uses the simplest materials to create a world in which
obsessions and fantasies radically alter reality and transform
it into a catalogue of rigid rules and unexpected exceptions.
martin creed’s work is at the same time spectacular and subtle,
playful and severe, and at times almost cruel in its stark
dryness.

absurd laws and sudden mishaps, often amplified by the
direct participation of the audience, regulate martin creed’s
imaginative universe.
on the façade of the palazzo dell’arengario,
a neon sign reading ‘everything is going to be alright’
(one of his iconic works) celebrates optimism, while making
an ironic commentary on today’s consumer-driven society.

martin creed’s light minimalism is simple and at the
same time extreme:
a series of plywood sheets, in the most standard size
available on the market, are piled on top of each others
as to compose a clumsy and yet somehow perfect
geometric figure. in the first room transformed into a sort of
decadent nightclub, martin creed also presents a piano
interpreting an awkward mechanical ballet.
animated by uncontrollable urges, the piano abandons its
graceful function becoming a possessed mechanism.

even the air we breath and the space around us can be
altered by the artist who appropriates the world around
him with frantic enthusiasm:
two wind machines recast the entrance to the exhibition
while the sign ‘small things’ works both as a light sculpture
and as a poetic statement.

in the the austere sala delle colonne,
the installation ‘the lights going on and off’ consists of nothing
more than the lights switching maniacally on and off.
the work is at the same time an ascetic gesture of disarming
simplicity and an ironic invitation to re-imagine a new destiny.

the human body is also a major source in martin creed’s
base materials.
at the end of the exhibition there is a video installation,
which features a girl compulsively vomiting in front of
the camera. a metaphor of the capacity to build art out of
nothing, or the sisyphean struggle of life, the work offers
an obscure metaphor of today’s looming paranoia and
existentialism.

the palazzo dell'arengario opens its doors to visitors for
the last time before closing for a major architectural
restoration. martin creed’s exhibition is therefore also a
great opportunity to visit one of milan’s most significant
historical buildings, seen through the eyes of an
irreverent and eccentric artist.

martin creed
was born  in 1968,  in wakefield,  uk.
from 1986-90 attended the slade school of art in london.
in 1993 his ‘work No. 81’, 'a one inch cube of masking
tape in the middle of every wall in a building' was
installed in the offices of the london firm, starkmann ltd,
and since then creed has had many solo exhibitions
or projects in europe and north america and has
participated in numerous group exhibitions world wide.
the artist lives and works in london and alicudi (italy).
http://www.martincreed.com

martin creed, recipient of the 2001 turner prize
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerprize/2001/Creed.htm

designboom archive, november 2001
http://www.designboom.com/portrait/creed.html