Urs Fischer

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For the Swiss football player and coach, see Urs Fischer (footballer).

Urs Fischer (born 1973) is a Swiss contemporary artist living in New York.

Contents

Work[edit]

Born in 1973, Urs Fischer began his career in Switzerland where he studied photography at the Schule fur Gestaltung, Zurich.[1] He moved to Amsterdam in 1993 and had his first solo show at a gallery in Zurich, in 1996. Fischers subversive approach to art is often considered to be influenced by anti-art movements like Neo-Dada, Lost Art or the Situationist International.[2] Since Fischer began showing his work, in the mid-nineteen-nineties, in Europe, he has produced an enormous number of objects, drawings, collages, and room-size installations.[3]

In Untitled (Bread House) (2004-1005), Fischer constructed a Swiss style chalet entirely out of loaves of bread. His Bad Timing, Lamb Chop! (2004-2005), displays a giant wooden chair straddling a half empty packet of cigarettes. Between 2005 and 2006, he created Untitled (Lamp/Bear), an edition of three 23-foot-tall, 20-ton, fluorescent-yellow bronze bears with generic Bakelite lamps springing out of their heads;[4] in 2011, one of the pieces was displayed for five months at Seagram Building's plaza before being auctioned at Christie's.[5] For his 2007 show at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Fischer excavated the gallery’s main room, bringing in contractors to dig an eight-foot hole where the floor had been, and calling the result You.[6] In Death of a Moment (2007), two entire walls are equipped with floor-to-ceiling mirrors and set in motion by a hydraulic system, to create the surreal effect of a room in flux, morphing in shape and size.[7]

Exhibitions[edit]

Fischer’s installations and sculptures have been exhibited in some group exhibitions and biennales worldwide, including Manifesta 3[8] and the Venice Biennale in 2003, 2007, and 2011.[9] His solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 2004, titled "Kir Royale", was his first large-scale solo museum exhibition.[10] Recent major exhibitions include "Not My House Not My Fire," Espace 315, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004); "Mary Poppins," Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of the University of Houston, Houston, Texas (2006); "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty," New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2009–10);[11] "Oscar the Grouch," The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, Connecticut (2010–11); and "Skinny Sunrise", Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2012).[12]

Art market[edit]

In 2010, one of Fischer's waxworks, Untitled (Candle) (2001) sold at Sotheby's for $1 million; it is one out of an edition of four identical pieces.[13] One his Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (2005-2006) sculptures fetched $6.8 million at Christie's New York in 2011.

Fischer is represented by Sadie Coles HQ, London; Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York; The Modern Institute, Glasgow; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; and Gagosian Gallery.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Adam McEwen, Urs Fischer: Beds and Problem Paintings (New York: Rizzoli), 2012
  • Caroline Bourgeois, Patricia Falguières, Michele Robecchi, Urs Fischer: Madame Fisscher (New York: Kiito-San), 2012
  • Bice Curiger, Massimiliano Gioni, Jessica Morgan, Urs Fischer: Shovel in a Hole (Zurich: JRP Ringier), 2009
  • Garrick Jones, Brice Marden, Beatrix Ruf, Urs Fischer: Good Small Make-Up Tree (Zurich: JRP Ringier), 2005
  • Bruce Hainley, Jörg Heiser, Mirjam Varadinis, Urs Fischer: Kir Royal (Zurich: JRP Ringier), 2005

References[edit]

  1. ^ Urs Fischer, Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (2005-2006) Christie's, New York.
  2. ^ Urs Fischer: Skinny Sunrise. Exhibition catalog. Kunsthalle Wien 2002.
  3. ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer’s inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
  4. ^ Urs Fischer, Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (2005-2006) Christie's, New York.
  5. ^ Sarah Douglas Christie’s Bullish on Urs Fischer’s Bear New York Observer.
  6. ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer’s inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
  7. ^ Urs Fischer: 'Douglas Sirk', Sadie Coles HQ, London, 06/10—11/12/2010 The Modern Institute, Glasgow.
  8. ^ "Urs Fischer Biography". Sadie Coles HQ. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  9. ^ "jet set lady - a project by urs fischer". Designboom. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  10. ^ URS FISCHER: Agnes Martin, December 15, 2007 – January 20, 2008 Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
  11. ^ Massara, Kathleen (December 2009). "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty". The Brooklyn Rail. 
  12. ^ Urs Fischer: schmutz schmutz, April 5 - May 26, 2012 Gagosian Gallery, Paris.
  13. ^ Kelly Crow (April 2, 2011), Hey There! Big Bear to Visit Park Avenue Wall Street Journal.

External links[edit]

Authority control


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