Problem(s) is a series of new smaller-scale neons in which Etchells turns his subversive attention to the word ‘problem’ in singular and plural forms. These works – as comically simple as they are philosophically complex – exploit the entangled relationship between the neons as semantic propositions and their parrallel life as material arrangements of letter-forms, sculptural objects in three-dimensional space.

Throughout the series Etchells explores different arrangements of the words ‘problem’ and ‘problems’ so that the works’ physical manifestation and presentation as neon reflects the experience or issue (problem/s) that it summons through language. In Problem (Upside Down) the word is flipped mischievously and presented upside down, whilst, in Problems (Double Upside Down) two identical versions of the word ‘Problems’ are presented one above the other, each of them upside down, doubling and insisting on the absurd gesture. In Problems (Cloud) the letters of the word ‘Problems’ are presented in a dispersed arrangement which severely disrupts its legibility, whilst in Problems (Stretched) the letters of the same word are displayed on the wall at increasing distances from each other, as though  the component parts of the word were incrementally losing contact with each other in a further challenge to its semantic sense. The final of the works, Problems (Backwards) sees the the neon form reversed to a displayed mirror image – facing as if the reader were within or on the other side of the wall.

About Tim Etchells’ neon and LED works
Etchells’ neon and LED pieces often draw on his broader fascinations as an artist, writer and performance maker, exploring contradictory aspects of language – the speed, clarity and vividness with which it communicates narrative, image and ideas, and at the same time its amazing propensity to create a rich field of uncertainty and ambiguity.