ST. MORITZ.- On February 11th, Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz opened ‘Step Paintings’ by Martin Creed, Turner Prize-winning artist, performer, composer and ‘Punk poet’, which will end on April 10th. ‘Colors can help you feel better’ says Creed, ‘paintings are the arrangement of colors for pleasure’. In Creed’s Step Paintings, colors build up like a staircase to heaven, like a wedding cake, like favorite socks in a drawer, like a house on an island in the middle of the sea. Creed has become known for hugely varied work, which is by turns uncompromising, entertaining, shocking and beautiful. The exhibition will bring together a selection of Creed’s Step Paintings from the past 12 years, alongside four neon works.

Landmark Projects

Music, talks and theatrical presentations are an important element of Creed’s work. These include ‘Life is Soft’ and ‘Words And Music’, both improvised one-person shows which ran at the Edinburgh Festival in 2022 and 2017 respectively, frequent concerts and recordings – such as the album ‘Thoughts Lined Up’ (Telephone Records 2016) – and several orchestral pieces: ‘Work No. 1375’ (2012), commissioned by London Sinfonietta, and most recently ‘Work No. 3025’ (2018), for String Quartet, commissioned by David Roberts Art Foundation.

The frequently exhibited balloon sculptures, filling half the air in a room, enjoyed by children and adults alike. The first from the series was ‘Work No. 200: Half the air in a given space’ (1998).

Creed’s many films and videos, including most recently ‘Work No. 2811: What the fuck am I doing?’ (2017), ‘Work No. 2656: Understanding’ (2016), and his infamous ‘Work No. 610: Sick Film’ (2006), a film of people being sick, shot elegantly on 35mm film.

Creed’s music for the opening of the London Olympics, ‘Work No. 1197: All the Bells in a Country Rung as Quickly and Loudly as Possible for Three Minutes’ (2012), made with the participation of people country- wide on the morning of the Olympic opening ceremony (even Big Ben joined in). This was recently revived at ‘Art in a Day’ in Copenhagen (2022).

The much-loved Scotsman Steps in Edinburgh, a public staircase joining two streets made with more than a hundred different types of marble, ‘Work No. 1059’ (2010). There are a number of other Creed marble floors, including at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City, ‘Work No. 1051’ (2013), and at Sketch restaurant in London, ‘Work No. 1347’ (2012).

His array of reassuring signs saying EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, currently installed in Oberkrämer, Germany, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Christchurch, New Zealand, and Detroit MI.

And his spectacular spinning monuments such as ‘Work No. 1357: MOTHERS’ (2012) (Fort Worth TX) and ‘Work No. 2630: UNDERSTANDING’ (2016) (New York NY and Copenhagen, Denmark), commissioned by Public Art Fund.

‘Work No. 850’ (2008), in which athletes sprinted through Tate Britain every one minute.

‘Work No. 409’, Creed’s popular Singing Lift which goes ‘Ooh’ going up and ‘Aah’ coming down, on show in the UK at The Royal Festival Hall in London, Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, England, The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and also at Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

‘Work No. 1020’ (2009), a dance work commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, which involves classical dancers and music played by Creed and his band.