In this episode of A brush with..., Cornelia Parker talks to Ben Luke about her influences, including artists, writers, film-makers, composers and musicians, and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.
Cornelia Parker's Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991) © Tate; Cornelia Parker
Parker, born in 1956 in Crewe, Cheshire, north-west England, makes works ranging from dramatic room-filling installations to subtle, ephemeral objects—some of the most profound, witty and thought-provoking art of recent decades. Common to her work are acts of transformation, from the violent to the surreal and the whimsical. She takes found objects and substances and through hugely varied processes lends them new, often multilayered, meanings.
Cornelia Parker's War Room (2015) © The Whitworth, The University of Manchester. Photography by Michael Pollard
She discusses her early love of J.M.W. Turner, and the work she eventually made linking Turner with Mark Rothko. She recalls wrapping Auguste Rodin’s The Kiss with a mile of string, in a reference to Marcel Duchamp, and the controversy this intervention prompted in the press. She talks about the increasing concern with politics in her work, including two new works made for her Tate Britain retrospective opening in May 2022.
Cornelia Parker's Thirty Pieces of Silver (Exposed) (2015). Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery © Cornelia Parker
And she answers the questions we ask all our guests, including those about the museum she visits the most, her daily studio rituals, and, ultimately, what art is for.
• Cornelia Parker, Tate Britain, London, 19 May-16 October
• Series 9 of A brush with..., runs from 23 March-13 April, with episodes released on Wednesdays. You can download and subscribe to the podcast here. This podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects.