On 20 March 2009, the exhibition Fat Iggy, by the Californian artist Martin Kersels, opens at the Guido Costa Projects gallery in via Mazzini 24 from 6.30 – 9.30 p.m.
Martin Kersels is an astonishing, multifaceted artist who employs a broad spectrum of expressive means in his work, ranging from video and sculpture to performance. His anarchistic, non-conventional vocation has made him one of the most representative figures on the Californian contemporary art scene. His clever overlapping of styles and theories sees a mix of diverse and debased materials brilliantly juxtaposed in a whirlwind patchwork of high and lowbrow culture neatly blended with sophisticated theoretical conjecture.
Standard bearer of a bold tradition whose roots stretch back into radical art from the 60s and 70s, from Edward Keinholz to John Baldessari, Martin Kersels works “horizontally”, propping up and deconstructing ideas and icons as he spins his own peculiar brand of urban myths into fairytale and epic events.
His is not the glam Los Angeles we’ve become used to with Hollywood and its Epigones; nor the mysterious and chased city of excesses and perversions. This is not the place of Academy Awards or Black Dahlia: it’s rather the outrageous, tender and forgotten home of the likes of Fat Freddy Arbuckle.
And Fat, is the key word that opens the door to Martin Kersels’ world. In the spotlight on this occasion is one of the diehards of pop culture, Iggy Pop, who is still able to attract hoards of adoring teenagers with his mythical acrobatics and magnetic charisma even as he pushes on into his late sixties.
This alluring Fat Iggy wriggles lithely in the blazing furnace of stardom, revealing ingredients and cooking times and reconciling us with the algid beauty of these timeless and faultless human beings. At the centre of the exhibition is the diamond, whose purity and preciousness is born of simple commonplace elements, made unique by both the passage of time and their long journey down into the bowels of the Earth. Symbolically, this creative process is antipodal to the destiny of so many stars, whose decline is a reverse life of that of the diamond: they are transformed from almost superhuman into ordinary beings, from Gods into people.
In Fat Iggy, the imposing (larger than life from any angle) Martin Kersels grinds the myths and stereotypes of stardom into a fine powder. This is a project that seems to call out for his exuberant language, the language that first appeared in the 80s with SHRIMPS, which he performed in the most important alternative theatres in The States, where he offered us a dance for heavyweights, a hilarious lampoon of gags and Disney-like scenarios.
A cult figure for an entire generation of artists who immediately recognised his critical and desecrating potential, Martin Kersels was the precursor of many extreme performances that probed the territory of punk and R ‘n’ R. Now he has formalised his language, distilling his beautiful exuberance into works of art - pieces as big as himself. The crisp sense of humour in pieces like the machine to heat water (Attempt to Raise the Temperature of a Container of Water by Yelling at It, 1995) and the rotating rooms that self-destruct (Tumble Room, 2001) whisk the carpet from beneath our feet, as do a series of photographs in which he makes a playful use of his body to launch friends and celebrities into the air (Tossing a Friend, 1996); has himself clubbed with sticks, chains and bottles (Friends Smacking Me, 1998); lifts up newly wedded couples with one hand, or tumbles down unexpectedly from rostrums, stairs and makeshift stages (Falling, 1997, Tripping, 1995).
It’s impossible not to like Martin Kersels and his own particular caustic irony directed towards himself, towards the world of images and towards the art system.
Like an agile King Kong (King Kong, 1996) who ended up in the gallery by chance, Martin Kersels lets us know what it’s like to be an eternal paradox, ontologically outré, without need of sham or artifice.
His exhibitions always challenge our certitudes, whether they be the law of gravity, the canons of good taste, linear continuity, or the seriousness of academics, art dealers and critics. They are like a glowing freak show in which the first question concerns the freaks themselves - on and off the stage.
The exhibition of work by Martin Kersels (the second in Turin in via Mazzini, and one of his rare appearances in Europe) is about turning things on their head. This he does with mechanical sculptures, photographs and drawings, and a real stage, creating a sort of presence-absence ready to be stirred into life at different points in time by various artistic contributions.
It is a sort of perpetual motion mobile party, whose guests are the virtuous, and villains, beautiful women, children and trained animals.
Looming over all and sundry is the maudit figure of the great impresario himself, the great artist and great puffer.
Fat Iggy is Martin Kersels latest challenge. It will be open to the public at the Guido Costa Projects space from 20 March to 15 July 2009. It will include a programme of small events and huge contributions that will be defined one after another, without any warning.
Being there or not will be down to luck, or karma.

At 7.30 p.m. on the evening of the opening there will be a performance by the artist.

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Martin Kersels (Los Angeles, 1960) appeared on the art scene in the second half of the 80s. His contemporary dance group SHRIMPS (1984 -1993) performed in the most famous fringe theatres in the United States. He has had exhibitions as a visual artist in museums and privates galleries throughout the world, these include (Musee d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1995; Madison Art Center, 1997; Whitney Museum, New York, 1997; Santa Barbara Arts Forum, 1998; Saatchi Gallery, London, 1998; Kunsthalle Bern, 2000; LA County Museum, 2000; J.P.Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2000; Barbican, London, 2001; Claremont University, 2002; San Jose Museum of Art, 2002; MAMCO, Geneva, 2002; MAC, Marseille, 2003; ICA, London, 2004; De Appel, Amsterdam, 2005; Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2005; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2005; Armory Center Pasadena, 2006; Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2007; Skidmore College, New York, 2007). He works with the ACME gallery in Los Angeles; Deitch Projects in New York; Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois in Paris, and Guido Costa Projects in Turin.
His work can be found in many museums and important private collections in the United States and in Europe. Fat Iggy is his second exhibition in Turin.