Promotion

2011

5×1.5×1.2m, 800 earthenware figures and 3 tons of washing powder

Promotion is a work I created for the 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana. It consists of 800 mini self-portraits that I made in clay and glazed white – their form references the numerous socio-realist heroic monuments common in Slovenia. The work was shown first in an art gallery as part of the Biennial with the figures standing on a large plinth made out of three tons of washing powder. The work echos my childhood memories of companies adding a gift to washing powder boxes as a  a promotion for a particular brand. At the end of the exhibition my figures were individually packed and attached to boxes of washing powder and then distributed in supermarkets as free gifts with the purchase.
I am interested in the dichotomy the work presents; Promotion stands as a generous act of giving from the artist, when somebody buys the washing powder they get part of the project to take home, yet also operates as act of self promotion when artist is spreading his image into homes around Slovenia.