Vis-à-vis the cigarette

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Maria Marshall When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Cooker, 1998
‘Marshall’s mesmerizing scenarios of maternal fear and dread strike at the heart of Western culture’s commodification of childhood. For this work, she shot film footage of her two-year-old son playing with a fake cigarette and added wisps, rings, and puffs of smoke, generated using Hollywood special-effects software.’

Watch it here

 

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Jac Leirner Lung, 1987
‘Lung was made at the time Brazilian sculptor Jac Leirner gave up smoking. 1200 Marlboro packets (three year’s smoking) were dismembered into their constituent parts: each part, massed together, became a distinct sculptural entity and metaphor for the Lung. Together these made up the ensemble of the exhibition. One was made of the cellophane strips that you pull off first. another with the foil inner-wrappings. another with the price tags. and so on. Only the cigarettes were not there: they’d ‘gone up in smoke’.

 

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Gabriel Kuri sorted, resorted, 2019
‘The odor of Gabriel Kuri’s ” sorted, resorted” precedes it. The Brussels-based, Mexican artist has meticulously installed at least 1,000 cigarette butts (plus coins and chewed gum) into two large piles of sand which are parted like a sea.’

 

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James Benning Twenty Cigarettes, 2011
‘The 20 shots in Twenty Cigarettes, which (in theory) each begin with the action of lighting the cigarette and end with its stubbing-out, average a fraction over 4:38 each. But while Benning could technically be termed an academic, it would be a stretch to interpret his project as a form of scientific research.

‘Benning has stated that the film is “about duration.” And in theory the length of the shots is determined not by the director but by their subject—in interviews, Benning has stated that he started the camera running, then departed the scene and left his “collaborators” to the business of enjoying their cigarette (we gauge how much time is left by observing the length of the burning, diminishing stub).’

 

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Xu Bing Tiger Skin Rug, 2011
‘Made from more than 660,000 individual cigarettes and weighing an incredible 440lb, this mock tiger skin rug is the creation of master artist Xu Bing.’

 

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Tony Smith Cigarette, 1967
mild steel with vaporblasted surface

 

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Xinyi Cheng Various, 2017 – 2020
oil on canvas

 

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Rose Eken Forever Is A Slow Moment, 2012
ceramic

 

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Jon Pylypchuk I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again, 2021
‘I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again is an exhibition of ten bronze cigarettes all languishing in various poses throughout the gallery. The cigarette motif is not new to Pylypchuk’s work, but whereas before Pylypchuk’s cigarettes were made of found materials, reinterpreting the bricolage of the Art Brut tradition, their reincarnations are now solely in bronze. These new cigarettes are metaphoric for change – the intention to change and longing to return to a flawed normal. Pylypchuk’s cigarettes remind viewers of our false perceptions of control—a fact that has only become more poignant after a year of the pandemic—and of how strongly we might long for those things which we know we shouldn’t, and which ultimately impede our flourishing.’

 

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Lucian Freud Boy Smoking, 1950
‘Boy Smoking is an up close cropped portrait of Charlie Lumley, whom Freud first encountered when the boy, alongside his brother, tried to break into his studio.’

 

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Tony Oursler Cigarettes, 2010
‘A series of oversized, tubular screens with high-definition projection. The effect is that of a smoldering, virtual forest of various Western brands of cigarettes.’

 

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Lucy Sparrow Smoke the Rainbow, 2008
Felt, Acrylic and Thread in Perspex

 

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Yang Yongliang Cigarette Ash Landscape, 2007
‘Yang Yongliang’s latest installation represents the tip of a huge cigarette sculpture hung vertically. The form of cigarette ash is taken from three-dimensional collages of photographs. Below, a pile of ash, composed of small rectangular image cutouts, sits upon a length of fake grass scattered with artificial flowers. Seen in profile, the ash creates its very own landscape.’

 

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Robert Larson Various, 2005 – 2015
‘Streets, sidewalks, empty lots, and back alleys—this is the urban landscape that artist Robert Larson navigates in order to source materials for his works. The artist has spent more than 20 years searching for particular types of cigarette packaging, which he uses to create patterned, geometric, and as of recently, metallic, works that engage the history of tobacco and its crucial influence on our culture. The painstaking act of collecting means that it takes months and sometimes years to complete just one work.’

 

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Frieke Janssens Smoking Kids, 2011
‘Smoking Kids is the title of Frieke Janssens’ somewhat controversial photographic project. Fifteen children aged between four and nine pose in a startling adult way in front of the camera, each smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe. Looking like they have stepped right out of a 1960’s TV show adds a modestly theatrical, retro quality but also something whimsical and unreal to the images.’

 

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Camilo Rojas Flavor, 2011
‘This piece was created using over 3,400 cigarettes that spell the word flavor. The cigarettes are half smoked showing the nicotine in them; in total, this piece has a size of 28″ H x 44.5″ W.’

 

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Robert Motherwell Untitled, 1974
‘Photographic plates. 203×305 mm; 8×12 inches. 14 pages. Oblong 8vo, wrap-around lithograph and collage wrappers by Motherwell with Gauloises cigarette packaging.’

 

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Maggi Hambling Hangover, 2016
Oil on canvas

 

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Richard Prince Untitled (Cowboys), 1982
‘First conceived in 1954, “Marlboro Man” aimed to convert a male public to filter-tip cigarettes, which had previously been targeting women. To inject virility into the product, the cigarettes were shown being smoked by strong, free men, epitomised by the cowboy. The cowboy figure was popular in film and advertising aimed at men, and was emblematic of the success of North American popular culture immediately after the war. This archetypal figure evokes conquest, frontiers and the taming of nature in a reworked version of European romanticism. Prince borrowed this advertising icon and reframed it. He cut out the text and logo and enlarged it to reveal the grain of the photo. In doing so, he deconstructed the image while maintaining its power of seduction. The mechanisms of advertising were revealed, but the attraction remained present.’

 

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Urs Fischer Bad Timing, Lamb Chop!, 2005
Cast aluminium, polyurethane enamel

See it here

 

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Sarah Lucas Is Suicide Genetic?, 1996
‘Lucas’s terrifying sculpture Is Suicide Genetic? consists of a motorbike helmet covered in cigarettes resting on a burnt-out armchair.’

 

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Tom Wesselman Smoking Cigarettes, 1998
Liquitex and collage on white card stock

 

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Alberto Korda Fidel Castro, 1962
Photograph

 

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John Norwood Untitled, 2011
‘Another sculpture made of Marlboro cigarette butts and glue. This piece is slightly demonic.’

 

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Christian Marclay Cigarettes, 2016
Single-channel animation, silent, continuous loop

 

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Unknown Lucky Strike Cigarette Pack Prison Tramp Art Handmade Umbrella, 1987
‘Overall good condition. A few of the ends broken off.’

 

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Liz Magor Smokey, 2008
Polymerized gypsum

 

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Jordi Benito Action on Cigarette Paper, 1972
‘Jordi Benito’s radical Actionism, as well as his active participation, together with a whole generation of artists, in the development of Conceptual practices in Catalonia throughout the 1970s, secured his standing as one of the most significant representatives of this movement in Spain.

‘Benito’s early practice consisted of simple actions in which the body was used as a pretext to construct a language related to the environment, to occupy and vacate the space, to measure the body or its impact when colliding against a static and hard volume. Here he tested the physical resistance of the body, pushing it to the limit and learning to control it. In Acció sobre paper de fumar (Action on cigarette paper), he made the paper disappear by blowing on it.’

 

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Steve Carr Annabel, 2007
‘An epic single take of one-hour-and-ten-minutes duration—a portrait of a young woman chain smoking. Annabel is slender, with high cheekbones, and long chestnut hair, cut in a fabulous fringe. She has bedroom eyes and full lips. As she smokes, she works though a repertoire of acquired gestures: holding her cigarette like this, like that, bringing it to her mouth, sucking on it, inhaling, exhaling, blowing smoke, looking bored, thoughtful, pensive, eyes watering slightly. The already sedate, flattering lighting is only enhanced by the accumulating haze—a subtle veil of smoke.’

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Barton Lidice Benes Tobacco Road & Untitled (Book with Cigarette Butts), 1972 – 1974
mixed media book construction

 

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Hans Haacke Helmsboro Country (unfolded), 1990
‘This work by Haacke, a large scale model of a cigarette pack, makes a direct reference to Jesse Helms, a conservative member of the Senate, who was tied to tobacco lobbying. During his time, Helms not only wanted to close down the National Endowment for the Arts, but also censored and suppressed artists and their exhibitions. Haacke’s giant cigarettes are rolled up reproductions of the Bill of Rights, and the work calls for freedom of speech while simultaneously acknowledging the fact that tobacco companies had become one of the most prolific donors of museums in the 1990s. Haacke proposed, “art works are no longer private affairs,” and that art institutions and museums were “on the slippery road to becoming public relations agents for the interests of big business and its ideological allies.” For Haacke, art for art’s sake no longer existed as he saw art institutions and museums as biased political bodies.’

 

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Claimsofmyshymphony Smoke Machine, 2019
animated gif

 

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Hong Yi-chen, Guo Yi-hui & Zheng Yu-di Polluted Popsicles, 2020
‘Hong Yi-chen, Guo Yi-hui, and Zheng Yu-di from National Taiwan University of the Arts, created an incredible ‘inedible’ design project from polluted water — a series of popsicles, each unique in colour as a result of industrial dyes and chemicals pumped into the island’s waterways. They include an additional ‘bonus surprise’, such as cigarette butts, bugs, and plastic trash such as wrappers and bottle tops.’

 

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Ni Hao Small Smoke Sculptures, 2011
cigarettes, ash, adhesives

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Thanks for the link. Everyone, Mr. Ehrenstein kindly hooks us up with an essay on Artaud by Susan Sontag, and it’s here. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I, of course, loved and swooned and titled back and forth at inordinate speed to your new Play Therapy. Thank you! Oh, interesting: the doc. Everyone, And _Black_Acrylic kindly hooks us up with a documentary on Artaud with English subs that he recommends, and it’s precisely here. Wow, you’re coming close to making me want to get in on the Leeds ‘David vs. Goliath’ battle. Nice! ** Misanthrope, Is that right? Yeah, weird, but I remember finding out that all sorts of supposedly foreign things were actually American inventions with fake foreign inflections, although I’m blanking on examples du jour. Oops, I hope Rigby gets reconnected lickety-split. ** Dominik, Hi!! Indeed, and the blog was just the lucky homestead. Ouch, cutting the lobes off, ouch, but, hey, maybe that would look … cool? Tattoos, that’s a different situation, I think, or so it seems to me. I think of tattoos as being really personal, connected to the heart or something, and I guess I think ear gauges are more … just decorative? I could be wrong though. Halston, ha ha, wow. I don’t even know what he looks like. Wait, … okay, he has a really long face, and he looks very aristocratic or something. Love convincing Apple to put CD slots back into their laptops, G. ** R**n / A******ZE, Hi. Okay, cool, glad things got sorted out. Oh, Kent. I went there once, but I didn’t see the sea. I went there to go to that weird amusement park where the rides are made out of earth moving equipment. I think it’s called Diggerland? It’s very spring-like here too, and the streets are packed, and no one wears masks anymore, and it’s kind of like heaven. Thank you a lot for the link to the Rosalia album. I’ll get all over that. Didn’t know there was a Che biopic, but of course there is. Again, I’ll try to locate and imbibe it. I’m good. Weekend was mostly very good and productive. Work progress, saw an astoundingly great film and a grisly bad play. And other okay stuff. Sounds like yours was a tonic. May the week ahead live up to your promise. xo. ** Billy, Hi, Billy. I’m trying to imagine a great experimental novel that ‘refines your brand values’ and having no success so far. I’m good. No, we’ve gotten rid of every restriction except wearing masks on public transport, so it’s almost normality central over here, although the new cases are, naturally, skyrocketing, so we’ll see. Are you freed up? Is your week dawning enticingly? ** Thomas Kendall, Hi, T! So excited for your novel. Don’t forget I want to do a ‘welcome …’ post for it if you’re game. Awesome that you liked ‘TIHYWD’ so much. Thank you! It seems have gotten really savage reviews that are kind of hilariously uptight/British, i.e. ‘what the hell is this thing that makes no sense?!’ Weird. Great to see you, my friend! ** Bill, Dental work, urgh. I hope you’re on the mend and no longer mouth-impaired. Week off!!!! ‘Bestia’: news to me. I’ll find it and find out. Thanks, B. ** Steve Erickson, Definitely will try the Rosalia album. Haven’t heard the Charli XCX, but I will. I used to be kind of thrilled by her, but that kind of wore off. I’m sorry that your mom’s pain battle is still an unpleasant tilted draw. ** Brandon, Hi, Brandon. Awesome! If you really like what you wrote, that really means something. That’s the golden rule, if you ask me. So that’s fantastic. I kind of vaguely understand your description of it, and it certainly sounds promising. My Sunday was okay, mostly a lot of figuring stuff out re: our film, and I saw a really great film on Saturday — James Benning’s ‘The United States of America’ — and that was circling in my head. This is your week off? Well, that’s excellent news. Hope you can max the freedom out. What’s first on your agenda? Take care! ** Okay. Today the blog is doing the cigarette. Smoke ’em if you got ’em, or the opposite? See you tomorrow.