Material: Black patinated bronzeYear: 2022Dimensions: 29 x 12 x 10 cmEdition: Limited edition of 30 + 3 Artist's Proofs (AP)"Move to Zero" by Mikkel Carl is a commentary in the form of a Nike Air Max 90. Finished in a black patina, the work reflects on contemporary culture and the values embedded in familiar everyday objects. The title comes from the box the Nike shoes arrived in: "Move to Zero," it said. We are moving towards a future with 0% CO2 emissions, with Nike, of course. How buying new running shoes reduces CO2 emissions is immediately difficult to understand.Mikkel Carl's bronze sculpture is an exact replica, indistinguishable even up close, of the Nike Air Max 90 that the artist always wears. It was the model he wanted as a confirmation gift in 1990 but never got because they were too expensive. Now he has nine pairs, from brand new in the box to totally destroyed in the studio.The work also references the Van Gogh painting behind the German philosopher Martin Heidegger's book "The Origin of the Work of Art." There the author describes the peasant shoes in the painting in detail, using them as a starting point for an analysis of human existence in the world. The only problem is that Van Gogh's painting does not depict a peasant's footwear but rather the artist's own worn-out boots. With a slight paraphrase of composer Arnold Schoenberg's pun, it might be put like this: one does not paint a pair of shoes, one paints the picture of a pair of shoes. Or with Magritte: this is not a shoe.In "Move to Zero" Carl continues his work with the readymade, moving a mass-produced object into cast bronze. The dark patina registers the surface of the original shoe while marking the shift from commercial item to sculpture.Delivery: Stock changes often. Some examples are in stock in Copenhagen for immediate delivery; when an example is not in stock, the work is cast to order with a lead time of 8 to 10 weeks.
