Plötzlich diese Übersicht

„Plötzlich diese Übersicht“ by the Swiss artists Peter Fischli (b. 1952) and David Weiss (1946–2012), a loose collection of over 350 hand-sculpted, unfired clay figures, is one of those artworks that is very familiar even to those who are not all that interested in art. The artists have created a masterpiece, using an entirely unspectacular material to form sculptural snapshots that sparkle with cheerful wit: sketched models of everyday situations and objects; clay reproductions that reveal the absurdity and artificial normality of the ordinary. Alongside them are semi-freely imagined scenes and events from history, culture, entertainment, sport and assorted memories from their own biographies, immortalised in emblematic scenarios. The titles, with their characteristic subtle mockery, fragmentary encyclopaedic knowledge and serious irony, are an integral part of the work. The art book gives an overview of the “Overview”; moreover, the superb illustrations reveal the sculptural aspect of this multipartite work, begun in 1981, the quality and continued relevance of which goes beyond the sly humour of language and creative skill.