Trap picture

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A “trap picture” by Daniel Spoerri

Trap pictures (French also Tableau-piège ) are artistic representations (here pictures or objects) that were first created around 1960 by Daniel Spoerri and other protagonists of the French artist movement of the Nouveau Réalisme .

The name of the assemblages is similar to the fact that everyday situations (e.g. used dishes, leftovers from a meal) are attached to a solid base (table top, desk pad) with synthetic resin . The trap picture thus became a frozen snapshot of a certain completed process of reality. The repas hongrois object montage is a famous example of this type of accumulation . The viewer is to be set a "trap" with the trap picture, thinking that z. B. a table with leftovers from a meal does not hang, but stands.

These art genres, also partially understood as a derivative of Eat Art - edible art objects made from gingerbread dough - consisted primarily of leftovers from finished or interrupted meals that were frozen into snapshots and then fixed with synthetic resin.

When Spoerri accompanied Tinguely on his trips to the scrap heap in Paris in the early 1960s, he was enthusiastic about the “situations” he encountered there. Spoerri then began to fix found objects on a solid surface with glue. He called these trap pictures. The objects of the fortuitous situation were attached to their fortuitous surface on which they were found. In this way Spoerri tried to set a trap for chance.

The change in the level of meaning in a trap picture only takes place when the direction of view is changed, namely by moving the trap picture or the base from the horizontal to the vertical position. Thus the trap picture is a fixed snapshot, a frozen reality, so to speak. According to Spoerri, this fixation is supposed to cause discomfort. In his trap pictures this fixation, the standstill, the urge for change should arise, i. That is, standstill, fixation and death are supposed to provoke movement, change and life.

Variations of trap pictures

  1. Trap picture; Objects found in random, untidy or neat situations are fixed on their random support (table, box, drawer, etc.) in the exact situation in which they are found. Only their level is changed: by declaring the result to be an image, the horizontal becomes vertical. Example: the leftovers of a meal are attached to the table and hung on the wall with the table.
  2. Trap picture in a square (trap picture of the trap picture); The tool that was used for fastening is also fastened in the random position in which it is stored.
  3. Wrong trap picture; The initially denied fantasy, which is recognized again, makes the false trap picture possible. The false picture of a trap is the composition of a situation that could have happened by chance and looks very similar to reality. Example: a playpen hanging on the wall with messy toys lying around, in which a child has never played, looks very much like you.
  4. Détrompe-l'œil (disillusion picture): As soon as a surface depicts something real, there is a connection between the depicted reality of the surface and the real objects that are attached to it. This connection removes the false perspective of the illustration on the base. A conscious choice of the objects to be attached not only robs the image of its ideal character, but also complements it clearly into the profane. Example: a romantic alpine landscape, which represents a valley through which a stream flows towards the viewer, is supplemented by a real new water tap and a corresponding shower system.
  5. The “word traps”, created in collaboration with Robert Filliou, are an attempt to make proverbs and idioms visible. Example: "Raining cats and dogs" (it rains cats and dogs, English equivalent of "it pours with buckets") is the subject of a picture in which toy cats and dogs are attached to an open umbrella.

literature

  • Karin Thomas : DuMont's small non-fiction dictionary on the art of the 20th century. From anti-art to zero . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1977, ISBN 3-7701-0622-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karin Thomas: DuMont's small non-fiction dictionary on the art of the 20th century. From anti-art to zero . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1977, p. 179.
  2. ^ Daniel Spoerri: Exhibition catalog Spendhaus Reutlingen . Ed .: City of Reutlingen, School, Culture and Sports Office. 1200th edition. Reutlingen 1985.
  3. ^ Katarina Vatsella: Karl Gerstner Collection (exhibition catalog) . Ed .: Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen. 1991, ISBN 3-928761-01-3 .