Urs Fischer (artist)
Urs Fischer | |
---|---|
Born | 1973 (age 50–51) |
Nationality | Swiss |
Education | Schule fur Gestaltung, Zurich |
Known for | photography, contemporary art |
Website | www |
Urs Fischer (born 1973) is a Swiss-born artist living in New York City.
Education and early career
Born to two doctors as the second of two children in 1973,[1] Fischer began his career in Switzerland where he studied photography at the Schule für Gestaltung, Zurich.[2] After the basic, first-year course in art and design, he enrolled in the school's photography department, and supported himself by working as a bouncer at Zurich night clubs and house parties.[3]
Fischer moved to Amsterdam in 1993, at the age of nineteen, and had his first solo show at a gallery in Zurich in 1996. He later lived in London, Los Angeles, and Berlin before moving to New York.[4] In Berlin and New York, he shared studios with fellow artist Rudolf Stingel.[5]
Work
Fischer's subversive approach to art is often considered to be influenced by anti-art movements like Neo-Dada, Lost Art, or the Situationist International.[6] 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.[7]
In Untitled (Bread House) (2004-2005), Fischer constructed a Swiss style chalet out of loaves of bread. His Bad Timing, Lamb Chop! (2004-2005), displays a giant wooden chair (actually cast aluminum) intersecting a half empty packet of cigarettes dramatically increased in scale. Between 2005 and 2006, he created Untitled (Lamp/Bear), an edition of three 23-foot-tall, 20-ton, bronze bears (two are yellow, the third is blue) intersected with generic functional lamps that appear to spring out of their heads;[8] in 2011, one of the pieces was displayed for five months at Seagram Building's plaza before being auctioned at Christie's.[9] For his 2007 show at Gavin Brown's enterprise in New York, 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.[10] 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.[11]
Fischer has his own publishing imprint, Kiito-San (http://www.kiito-san.com), whose books are distributed by DAP[12] and Buchhandlung Walther König. The imprint has published exhibition catalogues by Fischer as well as books on the work of Spencer Sweeney, Peter Regli, and Darren Bader. In 2015 Kiito-San released a cookbook called Cooking for Artists, written by Mina Stone, who cooks lunch at Fischer's studio.
Fischer's current studio occupies a large warehouse in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, near the waterfront.[13]
In June 2016 Fischer's 23-foot-tall "Untitled (Lamp/Bear)" was installed in the Ruth Simmons Quad, across from the Urban Studies Program at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.[14][15]
Exhibitions
Fischer's installations and sculptures have been exhibited in some group exhibitions and biennales worldwide, including Manifesta 3[16] and the Venice Biennale in 2003, 2007, and 2011.[17] His solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 2004, titled "Kir Royal," was his first large-scale solo museum exhibition.[18] 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);[19] "Skinny Sunrise", Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2012);[20] "Madame Fisscher," Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2012); "Urs Fischer," Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2013); and "YES," Deste Foundation Project Space, Hydra, Greece (2013).[21]
Art market
Fischer has been working with Sadie Coles HQ, in London, and Gavin Brown's Enterprise, in New York, since 2003.[22] Fischer has also worked with Gagosian Gallery since 2012.[23]
Personal life
Fischer was married to Tara Subkoff.[24] With the artist Cassandra MacLeod, he has a daughter.[25]
References
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ Urs Fischer, Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (2005-2006) Christie's, New York.
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ Urs Fischer: Skinny Sunrise. Exhibition catalog. Kunsthalle Wien 2002.
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ Urs Fischer, Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (2005-2006) Christie's, New York.
- ^ Sarah Douglas Christie's Bullish on Urs Fischer's Bear New York Observer.
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ Urs Fischer: 'Douglas Sirk', Sadie Coles HQ, London, 06/10—11/12/2010 The Modern Institute, Glasgow.
- ^ p://www.artbook.com/kiito-san.html
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ https://news.brown.edu/articles/2016/06/public-art
- ^ https://www.brown.edu/about/public-art/Fischer
- ^ "Urs Fischer Biography". Sadie Coles HQ. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ "jet set lady - a project by urs fischer". Designboom. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ URS FISCHER: Agnes Martin, December 15, 2007 – January 20, 2008 Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
- ^ Massara, Kathleen (December 2009). "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty". The Brooklyn Rail.
- ^ Urs Fischer: schmutz schmutz, April 5 - May 26, 2012 Gagosian Gallery, Paris.
- ^ Urs Fischer: mermaid / pig / bro w/ hat, April 3 - May 23, 2014 Gagosian Gallery, New York.
- ^ Calvin Tomkins (October 19, 2009), The Imperfectionist - Urs Fischer's inspired sloppiness The New Yorker.
- ^ "Urs Fischer - February 23 - April 7, 2012 - Gagosian Gallery". www.gagosian.com. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
- ^ Carl Swanson (November 16, 2015), Can Art School's Cool Kids Grow Up to Be Anti-Bullying Activists? New York Magazine.
- ^ Lynn Hirschberg (November 19, 2015), The Art of Being Tara Subkoff W.
Bibliography
- 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