John Wood & Paul Harrison

The British artistic duo John Wood (b. 1969, Hong Kong) and Paul Harrison (b. 1966, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom) have sometimes been called the ‘Laurel and Hardy of the art world’. Since the beginning of their collaboration in 1993, they have been mainly producing videos of performances that they have specially designed for the small screen. In these minuscule events, located somewhere between slapstick and conceptual art and condensed to a stripped-down minimum, they explore the world through their bodies and a few implements that they move about with grotesque humour and childlike curiosity. In their short scenes, mastered with great technical and theatrical precision, they are always looking for the well-conceived absurdity. Semi Automatic Painting Machine (2014) is a well-orchestrated sequence of short skits that light-footedly lampoons the arbitrariness of modern life.