2012 MCA Plaza Project: Martin Creed

Work No. 1357, MOTHERS, 2012 – by Martin Creed

White neon and steel / 22.4 x 47.6 ft (6.8 x 14.5 m)

MCA Plaza Project

Aug 1, 2012–Jun 9, 2013

Mothers by Martin Creed is a kinetic sculpture, measuring forty-eight feet wide and more than twenty feet tall, it steadily rotates a full 360 degrees.

Creed often uses language in his work, spelling out unassuming words or common phrases. In some cases he works with neon on a modest scale. Work No. 845 (2007), for example reproduces the word “THINGS” in bright multicolored letters that are a few inches high. In contrast, the rotating neon sculpture Creed produced for the MCA plaza is intended to be monumental. As the word “MOTHERS” spins overhead, directly in front of the museum’s main entrance, it becomes a glowing presence that is both celebratory and imposing. It had to be large, Creed said, “because mothers always have to be bigger than you are” and because “it feels like mothers are the most important people in the world.”