Martin Creed: The Back Door

Martin Creed: The Back Door

June 8, 2016 - August 7, 2017

Wade Thompson Drill Hall

Winner of the 2001 Turner Prize, British artist Martin Creed has pursued an extraordinary path by confounding the traditional categories of art and employing a minimalistic approach that strips away the unnecessary while preserving an abundance of wit, humor, and surprise. Crossing all media including painting, drawing, music, dance, theater, film, sculpture, fashion, and more, Creed’s practice meditates on our everyday existence and the visible and invisible structures that shape our lives.

Creed continues his ongoing exploration into rhythm, scale, and order in his largest installation in the U.S. to date, a survey of his work from its most minimal moments to extravagant, larger-than-life installations. Utilizing both the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and the historic interiors of the building, Creed will reimagine the space with opening and closing doors, curtains, a slamming piano, and balloons, amongst other new works made for this exhibition. These materials and situations, when grouped together, create a playful spectacle within a framework that provides the viewer with a fascinating way to counter our visually overloaded, choice-saturated culture.

Installation Hours

Tuesday–Wednesday: 2:00pm–7:00pm
Thursday–Friday: 2:00pm–10:00pm
Saturday–Sunday: 12:00pm–6:00pm

“Mr. Creed has created a kind of anti-spectacle, a strange, discombobulated whole greater than the sum of its parts, in which the building is a co-star. He is displaying painting and sculpture to be sure, but he has also insinuated several of his performing ready-mades into the building, and they have never looked better.”

The New York Times

“an earnest attempt to understand the absurdity of existence”

New York Observer

"The Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed is about to have a major New York moment. The Park Avenue Armory is devoting its many spaces to the largest installation of Creed’s art yet to occur in the US."

WNYC

Gallery

  • A selection of works by Martin Creed in the Field and Staff Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    1/14

  • A selection of works by Martin Creed in the Field and Staff Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    2/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 2727: Lily Cole in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    3/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 2497: Half the air in a given space (2015) in the Colonels Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    4/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 223:Three metronomes beating time, one quickly, one slowly, and one neither quickly or slowly (1999) in the Mary Divver Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    5/14

  • A selection of works by Martin Creed in the Board of Officers Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    6/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 792 (2007) in the Library as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    7/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 569 (2006) in the Veterans Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    8/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 2352 (2015) in the Veterans Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    9/14

  • Martin Creed's Work No. 798 (2007) in the North and South Corridors as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    10/14

  • Martin Creed's The Back Door exhibition at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    11/14

  • Martin Creed: Words and Music, an evening of talk and music with Creed and his band in the Board of Officers Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    12/14

  • Martin Creed: Words and Music, an evening of talk and music with Creed and his band in the Board of Officers Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    13/14

  • Martin Creed: Words and Music, an evening of talk and music with Creed and his band in the Board of Officers Room as part of his exhibition The Back Door at Park Avenue Armory.
    Photo: James Ewing

    14/14

Production Credits

Commissioned by Park Avenue Armory.

Curated by Tom Eccles and Hans-Ulrich Obrist.

Related Events

June 18–July 30, 2016

Martin Creed Curatorial Talks

Join Humberto Moro, curatorial assistant for The Back Door for insightful, hour-long conversations with artists, scholars, cultural leaders, and social trailblazers, who offer new points of view and unique perspectives on this inventive British artist and his largest survey to date.

JUNE 18 AT 3:00PM: Daniel S. Palmer, Associate Curator, Public Art Fund
JUNE 25 AT 3:00PM: Genevieve Yue, Assistant Professor of Culture and Media, New School
JULY 2 AT 3:00PM: “La Puerta Trasera,” a presentation in Spanish by Humberto Moro
JULY 9 AT 3:00PM: John Schaefer, Music Critic and WNYC Host
JULY 16 AT 3:00PM: José Esparza Chong Cuy, Pamela Alper Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
JULY 23 AT 3:00PM: Naama Tsabar, Artist and Performer
JULY 30 AT 3:00PM: Marina Rosenfeld, Artist and Composer