Much ado about nothing

Problem solving has never been Andreas Slominski's strong suit. Since the late 1980s, the German artist has developed an expansive body of work focusing on the idea of “taking the hard way”. In his actions, installations and sculptures, Slominski presents problems which appear to have easy solutions, and then takes the most absurd, indirect solution imaginable. Without any concern for common sense or logistics, Slominski has mastered an art of inefficiency that can make even the most open-minded viewers scratch their heads, marveling at the apparent stupidity.

In “Stolen Bicycle Pump”

Slominski used the cover of night to find a locked bicycle with an air pump attached to the cross bar of the frame. He then used a hack-saw to cut a section of the frame right out, pump attached. Ignoring the plastic clips that fasten the pump and make for fast removal. The pump and section of the frame are then presented as the art object. The objects are often embedded with the story of the action that preceded them, telling the tale in a glance. This distinct story telling is an important feature of Slominski's work, acting to spread word of the work in a near myth like fashion.

In his 1996 “Licking a stamp”

the artist had a giraffe lick a postage stamp, then affixed it to a letter which was then sent out in the mail. Slominski's art is an exaggerated and painfully blunt model of what most art really is: an exercise in the unnecessary. Slominski doesn't gloss over the fact that his works are more or less pointless and uses this to comment on the self-aggrandizing nature of art. An artwork which so often presents itself as something with a utility and a significance, but at the end of the day, its uses are limited at best to conversation pieces for those already well-versed in art, or at worst, decoration. While Slominski's works often do have a function outside of “art”, its purposes are immediately nonsensical and circular, working in a closed system that is of no relevance to anything other than art.

His 1998 “Cough syrup transport system”

is again testament to this. Slominski worked with a team of scientists to develop a high-tech calibration device that would counter any vibrations or movements that might cause a table spoon of cough medicine to spill. Slominski's production suggests an attitude that like his cough syrup system, teeters back and forth between flippancy and reverence towards the art world. His work calls into question the nature of art and seeks to re-evaluate the “art object” as well as the processes by which they are realized within a structure that places infinite value on items that are apparently worthless.

It's a gas

It's not often you see small children at contemporary art exhibits. And for good reason: it's hard for adults to take in the breadth of artistic production these days, but for a child to make the leap from "Bob the Builder" to Matthew Barney is impossible.

Danish artists Henrik Plenge Jakobsen has a different idea about children in gallery settings. He welcomes their presence, and in works such as his 1998 “Laughing Gas House for Children” he depends on them to carry out the work's function. Through the union of a 'Little Tykes' Plastic playhouse and a canister of nitrous oxide, Jakobsen has created a ready-made and potentially interactive sculpture that can dope children into a state of mild hysteria.

The message sent is at best mixed. Depending on the opinion of the parent or guardian of the child, the work could be read as little more than a silly gesture encouraging “kids to be kids” by individually creating a more interesting and relevant experience in an otherwise unstimulating environment. On the opposite end, the work could be viewed as destructive--introducing a mind altering substance into a child's system behind the guise of “art”, subverting the “acceptable” setting the gas is used in, namely dental surgeries. In this sense, then, the work may be seen as no different than distributing alcohol to the children. Jakobsen remains ambiguous on the issue, summing up the work by stating, “It’s my experience that kids like drugs such as alcohol and also laughing gas”. Responsible? I'll have to think about it... Provocative? Very.

Check out more of HPG's work at http://henrikplengejakobsen.net