Art Post: Martin Kippenberger retrospective at MOCA

'Modell Interconti' Gerhard Richter painting from 1972, wood and metal, 1987(Collection of Gaby and Wilhelm / MOCA) LA Times photo

The other day an Archinect reader was asking a question about; "how can a building be critical?"

A day later I saw this review of Martin Kippenger Retrospective by Suzanne Muchnic in Los Angeles Times.
It was a flicker of a connection to the criticality question that was posed. A seemingly simple re-locating action by the artist setting several 'criticalities' at once.
Now, if only architects were this strategic and artfully critical.
Then again, the buildings are usually designed to escape fire, other hazards, resist gravity and accomodate profits from the planning stage onward.
In most cases, hardly adding 'value' to any criticality whatsoever.

Getting back to more substantial dispositions, a description of the work titled;

'Modell Interconti'

"IN KIPPENBERGER'S 'Peter' sculptures, his first foray into sculpture, he made a body of well over 40 works that were almost dysfunctional design objects cum sculptures. He combined found and newly constructed elements in pieces that refer to vernacular objects, architecture and works by artists such as Reinhard Mucha and Donald Judd. 'Modell Interconti,' which demonstrates his interest in Gerhard Richter, is a small table that he had made, using a small gray painting by Richter as the top. Kippenberger not only turned the Richter into a table, but also transformed it into a Kippenberger. He purchased the painting at a Richter market price, transformed it into a Kippenberger and sold it at a Kippenberger market price, which was much lower."