About the Artwork
Kris Martin’s work often consists of a presentation of found objects that have been altered or repositioned through minimal means. In Bells II, Martin conjoins two ornate church bells at the mouth, locking them into a symbolic kiss that carries with it the notion of silence, as sound can no longer escape from the hermetically sealed fusion.
The artist’s fascination lies in the way such small rearrangements can dramatically alter how we see the world around us, and understand our place within it.
Date: 2014
Copyright the artist Courtesy of Sies & Hoke and White Cube. Photo: © Nick Turpin
Material
bronze
Dimensions
variable
Artist Biography
Kris Martin
Kris Martin was born in 1972 and is based in Ghent, Belgium. Kris Martin's ephemeral interventions and his diverse use of found materials - from antique relics to natural or highly engineered objects - create a space of uncertainty and existential questioning. Often humorous and playful despite a profound sense of spiritual and philosophical enquiry, his work is as likely to provoke a state of mind as it is to create a visual experience. Martin presents two works in Sculpture in the City, both found objects lifted from a religious context: Bells II, and Altar. With the repositioning of these two highly charged, spiritually symbolic objects, Martin asks us to seek new value and meaning from our everyday urban experience.