"[4] Wurm's work is often critical of Western society and the mentality and lifestyle of his childhood during post-World War II Austria.

Common themes in his work include not only our relationship to banal everyday objects, but also philosophers and life in postwar Austria.

[citation needed] In talking about his often-mentioned topics of the gaining and losing of body weight and philosophy, Wurm stated: "It's about the difficulty to cope with life.

[11] The first of his Fat Car series was developed with Opel designers, but they were unsuccessful in achieving the kind of shape that Wurm had in mind due to technical limitations of this time.

[16] The book contains short advice such as, "day nap", "breathe deeply", "read or lay near an open window".

[16] The mounted photos also include various advice, from meal content to room temperature, in order to expedite extreme weight gain.

[17] Many of the unhealthy meal plans include things like, "two bottles of beer for lunch, one litre of red wine for dinner, and rich Austrian sweet recipes, like scheiterhaufen (also known as Žemlovka), as a full-on course".

[19] The artist's intention for the audience is to feel as if their bodies are filled with the food from reading the instruction book and become the sculptures themselves.

[3] In the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 2003 music video for "Can't Stop", the members of the band carry out five of Wurm's One Minute Sculptures.

In a recent iTunes interview, Flea is quoted as saying Wurm's picture of a man with a pencil in his nose was a significant influence on the video (Flea himself appears in the video, at a certain point, with markers in his nostrils, pencils in his ears, and paint pot caps over his eyes).