Urs Fischer
dal 20/4/2013 al 18/8/2013
Segnalato da
20/4/2013
Urs Fischer
Museum of Contemporary Art - MOCA, Los Angeles
Presenting his work of the last decade, the show brings together for the first time Fischer's many iconic works from leading international collections as well as recent production. The exhibition will showcase Fischer's propensity to bridge the banal and the fantastical.
Curated by Jessica Morgan
Rooted in a twisted take on reality, Fischer’s work unabashedly declares
its affiliation to Pop, Surrealism, and Dada, while its production techniques
and imagery place the work firmly in our contemporary sphere. Fischer’s
oeuvre is characterized by a morbid glamour—sex, the macabre, and the
violent effects of fracture and collage make frequent appearances. But this
adult and consumer-conscious world abuts a (not unrelated) fairytale land-
scape populated with giant teddy bears, houses made of bread, and melting
objects. In the artist’s imagination anything is possible, including the drastic
escalation in scale of a fist-size clay sculpture to a towering monolith of
forty feet, apparently produced by the hands of a giant.
Fischer’s world is mutable and unexpected, and the pleasure that we derive
from his sculpture and painting is based on our attraction and simultaneous
repulsion to the dreamlike appearances that he constructs. Fischer’s work
is characterized by an unending diversity. Sculptures are constructed from
an elaborate aluminum casting process, roughly hewn in wood, glued
together like a mosaic from broken mirror, or cast in wax only to melt away
during the run of the exhibition.
The artist delights in the possibilities of
surface, contrasting, for example, the highly reflective planes of an
aluminum box with a photo-realistic image of a consumer object that is
printed on its sides to confuse the perception of flatness and depth, real
and unreal, object and image. Even works that suggest the handmade
touch of the artist turn out to have been produced through a range of
digital processes in order to create the oddly surreal appearance of
reality gone wrong.
Urs Fischer specializes in making jaws drop. [His work] percolates with un-
canny destructiveness, operatic uncontrollability, and barbaric sculptural
power . . . Fischer’s wizardly ability to present objects on the brink of
falling apart, floating away, or undergoing psychic transformation, and his
forceful feel for chaos, carnality, and materiality, make him, for me, one of
the most imaginative powerhouses we have.
—Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine, 2009
In 2013, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) will
present the first comprehensive museum retrospective of works by the
internationally acclaimed Swiss-born artist Urs Fischer. One of today’s
most important contemporary artists, Fischer is known for using a range
of media to express the transience of art and, concomitantly, the human
condition. Jessica Morgan, Curator, International Art, at Tate Modern in
London, is curating the exhibition, which will occupy a total of 65,000
square feet at both MOCA Grand Avenue and The Geffen Contemporary
at MOCA, from April 21, 2013, to August 19, 2013.
Presenting his work
of the last decade, the show will bring together for the first time Fischer’s
many iconic works from leading international collections as well as recent
production. Using the two spaces of MOCA, the exhibition will showcase
Fischer’s propensity to bridge the banal and the fantastical. Each location
will have a distinct character and approach responding and adapting to
the unique spaces of the museum. At MOCA, Fischer will weave together
the storyline of his work: skeletons will meet movie stars, toys will greet
grave-like holes, and our accustomed sense of disinterested distance will
be simultaneously embraced and destroyed.
A fully-illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition including new
essays by the curator and renowned scholars. Morgan’s essay will examine
the dominant thematics in Fischer’s diverse work while the essay by
Ulrich Lehmann will explore the significance of the materials and production
techniques in Fischer’s sculptural production. The layout, designed and
conceived by the artist, will bring together images of the artist’s work from
the last decade.
About the Artist
Urs Fischer was born in 1973 in Zurich, Switzerland. Fischer studied
photography at the Schule für Gestaltung, Zurich; visited de Ateliers,
Amsterdam, ; was an artist in residence at Delfina Studio Trust; and has
lived and worked in Zurich, London, Los Angeles, and New York. Fischer
produces work in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has been exhibiting
since 1995. His installations and sculptures have been included in group
exhibitions and biennales internationally.
Among the major
exhibitions in which his work was included are: Manifesta 3 and the
Venice Biennale in 2003, 2007, and 2011. His first major solo exhibition,
“Kir Royal,” was at Kunsthaus Zurich in 2004 and other significant
museum exhibitions include “Not My House Not My Fire,” Espace 315,
Centre Pompidou (2004); “Mary Poppins,” Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of
the University of Houston, Texas (2006); Cockatoo Island, Kaldor Art Projects
and the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, Sydney (2007); “Marguerite
de Ponty,” New Museum, New York (2009–10); “Oscar the Grouch,” The
Brant Foundation, Greenwich, Connecticut (2010–11); “Skinny Sunrise,”
Kunsthalle Wien (2012); and “Madame Fisscher,” Palazzo Grassi,
Venice (2012). His work has been presented in numerous group exhibitions,
including “Lustwarande 2011—Blemishes,” Park De Oude Warande,
Museum De Pont, Tilburg, The Netherlands (2011); “L’invention de
l’oeuvre: Rodin et les ambassadeurs,” Musée Rodin, Paris (2011);
“Modern British Sculpture,” Royal Academy of Arts, London (2011);
“Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century,” New Museum, New York
(2007–08); “Fractured Figure: Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection,”
Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens (2007–08); and “Cinq
milliards d’années,” Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006–07).
Media Contacts
Lyn Winter, Director of Communications
213 633 5390
lwinter@moca.org
Nancy Lee, PR Coordinator
213 621 1788
nlee@moca.org
Opening: 21 April 2013
Museum of Contemporary Art - MOCA
250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
Hours
Mon 11am–5pm
Tues, Wed Closed
Thurs 11am–8pm
Fri 11am–5pm
Sat,Sun 11am–6pm
General Admission: $12
Students with I.D.: $7
Seniors (65+): $7
Children under 12: Free
Jurors with I.D.: Free