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Stairs that lead nowhere and a donkey-shaped mirror are among the artworks at an exhibition that celebrates everyday objects Work by artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Richard Hamilton, Donald Judd, and Mateo Lopez are on display at London’s Faggionato gallery, as part of an exhibition that celebrates the everyday household object. The works have been arranged to form a series of rooms and corridors, through which the viewer can progress without guidance, as if through someone’s home. “We thought the project would involve building walls and so on, but after the gallery owner Gerard Faggionato showed us the pieces he wanted to display, I suggested that we should, instead, focus on establishing some coherence between the objects themselves,” says Rik Nys, director at David Chipperfield Architects, which designed the gallery 20 years ago and worked with Faggionato to design this show.
Mr Watson – come here – I want to see you, by Urs Fischer, 2005 “If you put the objects in certain arrangements, they evoked the idea of a house – for instance, Mateo Lopez’s Stairs that lead nowhere, The Cradle by Sherrie Levine and Gregor Schneider’s Liebhaber, which is a bit like a wall. The painted frame by Jean-Michel Basquiet became a natural partner for Rachel Whiteread’s Door Knob.” Some of the objects, such as Jeff Koons’s Donkey mirror, fit quite obviously into the context of a home. Others are more abstract – including Gonzalo Lebrija’s La Vida No Vale Nada (Life has little value), a clock constructed from the straws of Mexican brooms; Urs Fischer’s installation Mr Watson – come here – I want to see you, which refers to the first words spoken down the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant; and Mateo Lopez’s Invisible Room, a door attached to nothing. “The exhibition juxtaposes different artists from different times and backgrounds, but the common thread is of art being a part of daily life rather than an alien thing outside of us,” says Nys. “You forget for a while ideas of value and look at household objects in a different way.” The House runs at the Faggionato in central London until 15 August |
Words Tina Baraga and Debika Ray |
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