Artist Project 1 - Michael Salter
Artist Project 2 - Yarisal & Kublitz
Artist Project 3 - Morten Viskum
Artist Project 4 - Ghost of a Dream
Artist Project 5 - Steve Locke
Artist Project 6 - The Royal Art Lodge
VOLTA Artist Project No.2
YARISAL & KUBLITZ | Berlin, Germany
b. 1981, Geneva; b. 1978, Copenhagen
represented by Galerie Bertrand & Gruner, Booth E6
Often playing upon our preconceptions, the work of artistic duo Yarisal & Kublitz is known for an amusing boldness that takes form in kinetic sculpture as well as video works, both spontaneous and staged. Their vision often concerns itself with themes of transformation, humorously emphasizing the ephemeral nature of life with an irony of blunt force. The sculpture shown at VOLTA5 makes use of 300 bulbs to spell its name of the same title, Forever looks so good right now.
The O’s of the phrase are replaced with multi-colored Wheel-of-Fortunes, emitting an unsettling tick-tick-ticking in an endless bout of rotation. Instead of stopping to indicate a fate or fortune, these wheels continue their spinning; symbolic of an uncertainty at the core of human experience, and expressing the futility of humanity's ongoing attempts to relate to life as something concrete and not fluid. The work's playful ambiguity confronts the viewer with his own mortality. The duo manages with humor and sheer obsessive force to focus on temporality and immortality, as well as the banality and repetitiveness of it all. Their sculptures encourage us to laugh at ourselves by emphasizing the tragic in the comic. Initially appearing as jest, it is the irony and humor of their work that reminds the observer of the contradictions intrinsic to the human condition.
 Yarisal & Kublitz, Forever looks so good right now, 2009. Mecanical sculpture: light bulbs, rotating platforms, motors, wood, metal. 245 x 371 x 120 cm. Unique. |
