Hans Arp was one of the most prolific and exhibited Dada artists, lucky old Herr Arp. He was one of the many artists who took refuge in Zurich during WW1, though still a Dadaist his work differed greatly from that of men such as grumpy old Duchamp in New York with his mechanistic images and the Berlin Dada-ists and their photomontage social satire (that means stuff like Monty Python cartoons).
Arps work and that of his Zurich buddies was intended not to be abstracted from real things but to be "something new to the world", wholely constructed from "scratch", which if you have a look at our pickies, is pretty much the way they look.They were often made from materials associated more with what would be called the "minor" arts,materials such as wood cuts, textiles and machined wood.
Before Zurich Arp had worked in Paris and then Ascona and in these areas had collaborated with two other artists, Otto van Rees and his wife Adrienne van Rees-Dutilh.This collaboration was of major importance to the early Zurich period and resulted in a number of joint works, unfortunately i dont got any pickies of them so here is an example of what else is in store for you at an Arp exhibition (get it? arp? art? oh sod it ,i really can't be arsed, its really hot and i'm going home to sweat.)
There is not really a great deal more to be said about our friend Hans ,except that he also exhibited in the Caberet Voltaire ( a club founded by prominent Dada-ist Hugo Ball to give young artists and writers a place to exhibit or perform their works.) and that he liked simple shapes and often took inspiration from childrens toys, even exhibiting alongside childrens art at the Galerie Dada in May, 1917.
I believe Arp would be dead now if he were alive.
