Mercer Art Gallery celebrates British artist Martin Creed in this new exhibition presenting highlights from his thirty-year career. The exhibition will feature sculpture, neon works, painting and video shown in North Yorkshire for the first time.
Born in Yorkshire in 1968, and raised in Glasgow, Creed came to prominence in 2001 when he won the Turner prize with Work 227: The lights going on and off 2000, exhibiting an empty room in which the lights switch on and off at five-second intervals. Creed has been recognised internationally for his distinctive approach to art – playful, thought-provoking, and deeply ambiguous.
Artist, musician, composer and performer, Creed's multi-disciplinary practice draws on the everyday. He transforms common materials and actions into surprising meditations on existence, choice and perception, and the invisible structures that shape our everyday experience. His art continually overturns our expectations and is characterised by his subversive wit.
[My work is] 50% about what I make and 50% about what other people make of it
Martin Creed
Creed’s Work No. 370 Balls 2004 is set to fill the entire Main Gallery at the Mercer. The vast installation features nearly 1000 balls of different scale, weight and texture. Visitors will also be able to see Creed’s iconic neon Work No. 890: Don’t Worry 2008 alongside Work No. 1340 2012, a large-scale wall painting of diagonal stripes. The exhibition will offer an insight into one of the most innovative artists working today.
ARTIST ROOMS is a touring collection of international modern and contemporary art, presenting the work of individual artists in solo exhibitions. Its national programme reaches audiences across the UK and is developed through local partnerships. ARTIST ROOMS draw from a national collection jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland that includes major bodies of work by international artists. ARTIST ROOMS gives young people the chance to get involved in creative projects, to discover more about art and artists, and learn new skills.
The ARTIST ROOMS programme and collection is managed by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland with the support of Art Fund, Henry Moore Foundation and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Creative Scotland. Its founding collection was established through The d'Offay Donation in 2008 with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.
