Surface Composite # 5 (Left Section)

by Clay Ketter

Artist Clay Ketter (USA, född 1961)

Alternate Title

Sammansatt yta nr 5 (sektion vänster)

Date1996

MediumPerstorpsskiva, rostfritt stål, glas och laminat

Dimensions210 x 195 x 60 cm

ClassificationSculptures

Credit LinePurchase 1998 funded by The Gerard Bonnier Foundation

Countries

Sweden, United States

Object NumberMOMSK 269

CollectionsThe Gerard Bonnier Collection, Geometri

The artwork is not on display

About the artworkKitchen cupboards and a stainless steel draining board. But no doors to the cupboards. And no taps, no sink. And why are the cupboards covered with plastic sheeting inside? Clay Ketter is American. He was born in Brunswick, Maine and received his education in New York. But he has lived and worked for a long time in Sweden. As well as being an artist he is a skilled carpenter. He wants to have a clear framework in his work: Swedish building standards suit him perfectly. Take a basic product, like here, IKEA's kitchen fittings. He rebuilds it, using exactly the same form and size, but with small, though clear changes. Like the plastic sheeting in the cupboards. And he divides up the kitchen package so that it is unusable; instead he focuses on what it looks like. In fact, the minor changes introduce something of a human dimension, albeit the least possible. A thing from the everyday world becomes a geometric, abstract sculpture. He opens a door on building products and on the history, the everyday life where they belong. Different from that of art, where thoughts move more freely. How familiar is the familiar, in fact? Clay Ketter is seeking freedom as close to the standardised as possible. He has been called "a practical visionary". His art is reminiscent of Marcel Duchamps's objects, of the Russian Constructivists' engineering art or of the cool American Minimalism. They all come together in Clay Ketter's kitchen fittings from IKEA.
Selected exhibition history Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Works by the artist