Erwin Wurm at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (Mexico)

[Randy]

ERWIN WURM: EUROPEAN DREAM/SUEÑO EUROPEO

April 30th to 10th august, 2003
Opening: Wednesday, April 30th, 20:00 hrs

Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil
Av. Revolución 1608
Col San Angel cp. 01000
México DF
(52) 55 5550 6260
(52) 55 5550 4232 f
http://www.macg.inba.gob.mx


For over 10 years the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm ( b . 1954 ) has been shifting the notion of sculpture as a sudden act as opposed to merely a static object.

The works maintain the classic ambivalence of the sculpture- gravity, weight, static balance, material stability, form- but they incoporate a temporal character which makes their inclusion within photography and video easier. They are inspired by our everyday relationships with common objects such as fruits, brooms, bicycles, chairs and clothes.

Since the late 1980's, Wurm has used drawings, photography and video in relation to his sculptural works. Most of his drawings are instructions to make inside the context of the famous series “one minute sculpture”, which also are used as performance material.

Works such as Me/Me Fat (1998) & Fat Car (2001) are used as ironic critiques on societal values, with artificial images of an obese man and an inflated car, criticizing the system of social commercial values imposed by the media, demanding thin bodies and simultaneously pushing the individual to be an uncontrolled consumer.

Singular would be the word to describe Erwin Wurm´s work due to the way he articulates different practices –based on an image- around a sculptural notion, including a third actor in the process. European Dream makes reference to the "American dream," its lifestyle as well as it's relationship with the current aims of the European Economic Union.

European Dream was curated by Pamela Echeverría, curator at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil.