Dimensions: image, each: 297 x 210 mm
Copyright: © Martin Creed | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, this is Martin Creed's "Work No. 944," a line of framed, single-color prints. It strikes me as both playful and incredibly formal. How do you interpret this work, given its seemingly simple composition? Curator: It is deceptively simple, isn't it? Creed's work often challenges our assumptions about what constitutes art. This piece, in its stark presentation, invites us to consider the politics of aesthetics. What narratives are being included and excluded by this presentation? Editor: I see what you mean. The colors, lined up so precisely, almost feel like a commentary on categorization itself. Curator: Exactly. And consider the historical context: Creed emerged during a time of intense debate about identity and representation. This piece perhaps prompts us to ask: how does this seemingly innocuous line of colors reflect broader social structures? Editor: It's fascinating how such a simple piece can spark such complex questions. Curator: Indeed. Art at its best doesn’t provide answers, but rather provokes critical inquiry.
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Work No.944 comprises twenty-one individually framed sheets of A4 paper displayed along side each other in a long row. Each sheet of paper has been entirely covered in a single colour using one of a set of twenty-one felt-tipped pens of the sort that children are often given in clear plastic wallets. Creed has said: ‘I find that it’s difficult to choose, to decide that one thing’s more important than the other ... So what I try and do is to choose without having to make decisions.’ (Quoted in Louisa Buck, ‘Martin Creed’, Artforum, vol.38, no.6, February 2000, p.111.) This involves keeping a range of options available, like having the lights turn on then off in his piece Work No.227: The lights going on and off 2000 (Tate T13868). In much the same way, by using every felt-tip pen in a set of twenty-one, Creed is saved from having to make a decision about which colour to privilege.
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