"Electrolux" by Jim Lambie and Shio Kusaka at The Modern Institute, Glasgow


This piece on exhibit in the UK relates to the Helen Molesworth discussions of this week. The reading discusses how avant-garde art after World War II has set out to blur the distinctions between art and life as the economy shifts from industrial to service. This piece speaks to Duchamp's ready-made objects by taking non-art items from everyday life and putting them in gallery settings. The objects in “Electrolux” become further dematerialized past the ideas of Duchamp by stripping away known recognizers of the object with color, becoming more of a non-object. The flat, matte colors speak more to plaster cast replicas than an actual realistic representation of the object, making the viewer engage more with how the object was made rather than the actual object itself.