Martin Firrell - Practice

Practice

In most of Firrell’s works it becomes apparent that uppermost is the belief in the redemptive power of ideas, directed at extending or protecting the right of the individual to create his or her own unique way of life and to live it accordingly without interference.

Consistent with this aim is a greater emphasis on participation in recent works. Complete Hero invited the contribution of ideas, experiences and opinions which formed the greater proportion of the project as it evolved on the internet.

Firrell has held that the purpose of existence is to develop the richness and meaning of lived experience, that art and culture in general should be key contributors to this central project and that their success or otherwise can be measured against this criterion.

In the Sky Arts documentary, The Question Mark Inside, Firrell discussed his view that contemporary art has lost its way, serving a self-elected elite, rather than the wider interests of humanity. He further claimed that art's proper place is at the centre of everyday life as a powerful force for good, that it should be a joyous expression of our shared humanity, and that his personal motto is "why settle for the art world when you can have the whole world?"

“Contemporary art, particularly in the UK, has become fixated with novelty. This is probably because one of the UK’s most influential collectors began in advertising - an activity devoid of substance but dominated by novelty. This fixation with novelty has become a dominant stream of thought in contemporary art, backed by money, so you see administrators and curators, and other collectors, falling into line. The problem with placing such a high value on novelty is that novelty always fails, in the sense that it disappoints in every instance other than the initial viewing. Its value collapses as soon as it is no longer mint new - like a secondhand car.”

Royal Opera House Creative Director Deborah Bull said of Firrell, "Yes he’s a provocateur if you like, but the underlying message is very rarely 'life’s rubbish and you’re all a bunch of sharks'.... He’s seeking to move beyond simple messages to something which provokes in the viewer a new sense of themselves and their place in the world".

On the same topic, Firrell has said: "I felt there was a problem with writing because of narrative - because it unfolds in time necessarily, and I was jealous of the painters where everything in painting is available in a single field. Simply, I wanted to make words work like a picture and that led me to writing aphorisms. When I wrote All Men Are Dangerous, I wrote something of immense truthfulness and importance with all of its meaning entirely available in a single field."