Urs Fischer

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

Work

Born in 1973, Urs Fischer began his career in Switzerland where he studied photography at the Schule für Gestaltung, Zurich.^[1] He moved to Amsterdam in 1993 and had his first solo show at a gallery in Zurich in 1996. 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.^[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) (2004-2005), Fischer constructed a Swiss style chalet 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, bronze bears (two are yellow, the third is blue) intersected with generic functional lamps that appear to spring 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 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.^[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]

Fischer has his own publishing imprint, Kiito-San, whose books are distributed by DAP ^[8] and Buchhandlung Walther König.

Exhibitions

Fischer’s installations and sculptures have been exhibited in some group exhibitions and biennales worldwide, including Manifesta 3^[9] and the Venice Biennale in 2003, 2007, and 2011.^[10] His solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 2004, titled "Kir Royal," was his first large-scale solo museum exhibition.^[11] 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);^[12] "Oscar the Grouch," The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, Connecticut (2010–11); and "Skinny Sunrise", Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2012).^[13]

Art market

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.^[14] One of his Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (2005-2006) sculptures fetched $6.8 million at Christie's New York in 2011.^{[citation needed]}

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Urs Fischer.

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. ↑ http://www.artbook.com/kiito-san.html
9. ↑ "Urs Fischer Biography". Sadie Coles HQ. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
10. ↑ "jet set lady - a project by urs fischer". Designboom. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
11. ↑ URS FISCHER: Agnes Martin, December 15, 2007 – January 20, 2008 Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
12. ↑ Massara, Kathleen (December 2009). "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty". The Brooklyn Rail. 
13. ↑ Urs Fischer: schmutz schmutz, April 5 - May 26, 2012 Gagosian Gallery, Paris.
14. ↑ Kelly Crow (April 2, 2011), Hey There! Big Bear to Visit Park Avenue Wall Street Journal.

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