The Marginalian
The Marginalian

The Art of Cleanup: Artist Ursus Wehrli’s Playful Defiance of Life’s Chaos

Alphabet soup made alphabetical, and other treats of visual obsessiveness.

By Maria Popova

As a longtime fan of Swiss artist and comedian Ursus Wehrli’s playful crusade to organize the world, I was thrilled for the English release of The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy (public library). From bringing new meaning to ordering the cosmos to arranging alphabet soup in alphabetical order, his obsessive deconstruction and reorganization of life’s necessary small chaoses is at once utterly delightful and playfully philosophical, reminding us of the quintessential human longing to bring order to the chaos of life.

Complement The Art of Clean Up with Wehrli’s equally charming Tidying Up Art and these deconstructed grids of famous cities, likely inspired by Wehrli’s work.

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Published March 28, 2013
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https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/03/28/the-art-of-cleanup-ursus-wehrli/
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