Oral Mirage

 

Oral Mirage, 2013, variable dimensions, metal, chewing gum.

 

A series of sculptures imitating the work of the French sculptor Albert Giacometti thematizes what appears to us as near and far. The seemingly humorous reinterpretation of his typical sculptures draws the audience into the game. Everyone can take a piece of chewing gum on the plinth next to them and use it to model a fragment of the sculpture. In this way, he paraphrases the expressive and informal language of the master. This strategy works with the creative inspiration of Giacometti, who in the desert observed distant figures on the horizon that seemed to be literally eroded, crumbled and deformed by the heated air around them.

The use of chewing gum is not just a parody. In the world of art (and not only there), “chewing gum” is understood as a substance into which the consumer imprints his traumas, stress, and anxieties by chewing. In this way, the non-existential nature of Giacometto’s works is emphasized, with the fact that those psychological processes are modeled directly by the momentary experiences of gallery visitors.

 

Orální fatamorgana, 2013, variabilní rozměry, kov, žvýkací guma.