Kelly Mark

Canadian, b. 1967

I really should ..., 2001

Felt marker on refrigerator

165 x 66 x 65 cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Gift of the artist

2001-298

Categories:

Installation, Canadian Contemporary (1980-present)

In this work Kelly Mark has covered the front of a refrigerator with a series of statements, handwritten in Magic Marker, all beginning with the words “I really should.” This work was created at the WAG for Mark’s exhibition Important Instructions For Changing the World in 2001. In a home, the fridge is commonly used to display items such as notes and lists. By transforming the refrigerator into an extensive to-do list, the artist presents the inner turmoil of her everyday life. This generic list highlights guilt-inducing inadequacies as well as prescriptions for self-improvement. The truth and sincerity of the individual statements is undermined by an understanding that they probably won’t happen.