Work No. 837
About this artwork
This work is perhaps one of Creed's most controversial pieces. It is a multi-part video work, shown on four television monitors stacked to form a cube. Each screen shows a person in an entirely white environment, removing any sense of familiarity, association or comfort. Against this sterile emptiness, a single person on each screen vomits profusely and repeatedly. It is one of a number of works in which Creed depicts people vomiting, defecating or having sex. Such films force the viewer to see themselves as a human being without any veiling of basic bodily functions; functions that we all have and undeniably serve a purpose. Creed wishes to celebrate the banality of such bodily experiences and in removing any reference to personal environment we invariably bring our own associations to the images.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Martin Creed (born 1968) Scottish
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title:Work No. 837
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date created:2007
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materials:Film, 35 mm, shown as video, 4 monitors, colour and sound
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measurements:1 min, 53 sec
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object type:
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credit line:ARTIST ROOMS Presented by the artist jointly to National Galleries of Scotland and Tate and acquired with assistance of the ARTIST ROOMS Fund, supported by the Henry Moore Foundation 2011
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accession number:AR01151
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gallery:
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subject:
Martin Creed
Martin Creed
Born in Yorkshire and raised in Glasgow, Martin Creed came to prominence in 2001 when he won the Turner prize with Work 227: The lights going on and off’. This controversial work involved the lights in an empty gallery being switched on and off at intervals, and is typical of the playful and...