04.06.2024 – 18.08.2024
Herbert De Colle is installing a site-specific variation of his EMOTION series, which has been running since 2018, in the MQ Art Box. In his artistic work, he draws on signs, codes and concepts from pop and subculture that have inscribed themselves in recent cultural history. A circle, two dots as eyes and a line as a mouth – the smiley face, created in 1963 by graphic designer Harvey Ball, is one of the best-known and most iconic symbols of pop culture and the visual reference for this work. The cultural significance of the smiley icon spans generations and continents. Originally developed as a simple graphic element for an internal corporate campaign, the smiley gained widespread popularity and became a universal symbol of happiness, contentment and positivity.
De Colles Smileys are made of handmade papier-mâché, each 130 cm in diameter and in a soft pastel mint green colour. In the MQ Art Box, seventy of these smileys are suspended on transparent strings so that they appear to float in the glass art space like a cloud formation.
Herbert De Colle – EMOTION
04.06.2024 – 18.08.2024
Museumquartier, MQ Art Box
Museumsplatz 1
1070 Vienna
https://www.mqw.at
