Comme Ca Art's

Little Artists

Markus Winter Gallery
Chausseestraße
104 D- 10115
Berlin.

30 January - 14 March 2009

Kippen... Schlumpf Büro  

The Little Artists' work to date has been an exploration of the iconic, a trawling through recent art history in an attempt at understanding the significance of the art work and the culture that creates it. Playful and irreverent but created with a genuine affection, their work while accessible in it’s use of material and subject matter explores the more complex issues of process, identity, authorship, branding and art’s relationship to consumerism and product.    

At the Markus Winter Gallery they will rebuild and rework an installation they set up at Another Roadside Attraction Gallery in London in August 2008. The artists used this as a dedicated office/studio space to initially research Martin Kippenberger and his infamous office/studio in Berlin, but more as a starting point to discover a model for contemporary art production.    

They searched for articles and documents relating to this, by scouring the web, contacting his former associates or tracking down out-of-print books.   On each article, printed email or piece of paper they replaced Kippenberger’s head or his written name with a sticker of a Schlumpf, these collages were then catalogued and stored in an evolving sculptural network of Scalextric track.    

The artists will use this site-specific reworking of the installation as a base for performance pieces - expeditions to the site of the original Büro and also to Kippenberger's Berlin hang-outs.    

Like much of their work the use of the 'Schlumpf' references childhood and how even in our formative years we are subjected to a comodification of culture through trade marked brands and product tie ins. Kippenberger becomes both producer and product, his brand easily replaced by that of another. Again with references to childhood play, the research will result in a mind map of Kippenberger knowledge, using Scalextric. This sprawling network will attempt to identify with the actions, strategies and mythology of Kippenberger whilst also alluding to his planned network of imaginary subway stations from around the world.    

This imaginary network is again referenced in the duo's 'SmurfNet' series of paintings, which are actual London underground maps that have had the station names and wording covered with Tippex/Liquid Paper and replaced with collaged ‘Schlumpf’ head stickers. Progressive maps have further levels of obliteration, the coloured tube lines and then the surrounding blank paper, resulting in a textured monochrome surface - negating the function of this ‘design classic’.    

John Cake and Darren Neave, have worked as a partnership since 1996 under the banner of The Little Artists in an attempt to make clear the status of artist as brand and artwork as merchandise. Using a methodology akin to Gilbert and George but with the injection of advertising techniques - they use the colours of blue and orange as a short hand for identity and recognition. Their use of existing materials, while linked to the ready-made is not an attempt to create something new, devoid of original meaning but a way of actively incorporating the already existing history of a brand into their own.
           

If you would like further information about the Little Artists please contact: info@commecaart.com.

Or visit the Markus Winter Gallery HERE

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