Tidying Up Art by Ursus Wehrli will be found in the “Humour” section of your local Waterstones, next to horrors such as The Little Book Of Management Bollocks and Barry Trotter and the Shameless Parody. Don’t be misled – Tidying Up Art is a masterpiece.
Ursus has invented a way of interpreting art that I’d like to describe as retentive deconstruction. Put simply, he takes famous works of art, and tidies them up. Magritte’s Golconde is tidied into neat rows, becoming a disturbing dole queue. Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles is given a spring cleaning. Bruegel’s tumultuous village square becomes a ghost town. It’s rare to find such a different perspective on art. Now where’s my dustpan and brush?