urs fischer : jet set lady

urs fischer : jet set lady .......................................................................................................................................................................................................

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jet set lady - a project by urs fischer

fondazione nicola trussardi
istituto dei ciechi, milan
may 3rd – june 1st, 2005
http://www.fondazionenicolatrussardi.com

in the monumental space of the istituto dei ciechi in
via vivaio in milan, the fondazione nicola trussardi presented
the first solo exhibition in italy of swiss artist urs fischer.
fischer has built through his sculptures and installations an
infinite anthology of mutations which modify the surface and
structures of everyday objects. his world is animated by an
endless production of distorted images, twisted, folkloric
dreams and corroded sculptures:
like hypertrophic three-dimensional cartoon strips,
fischer’s works describe an imaginary world in constant
development, at times escaping even the control of the artist
himself.

urs fischer domesticates materials such as wood, metal, glue,
wax, styrofoam, and plastic; he transforms chairs, tables,
fruit and vegetables into precarious assemblages.
in his hands, objects become surreal visual tales.
his vignettes are permanent metamorphoses:
they are still lives animated by a raw energy.
tinkering with common objects, and fidgeting with banality,
urs fischer attacks and wears down daily life.
he is an alchemist, a magician of substances: his universe is
suspended between art history and underground culture,
flirting with punk aesthetics while quoting and subverting
classical sculptural languages.

‘jet set lady’
urs fischer’s new work is a gigantic tree collecting an infinite
multitude of coloured drawings.
‘jet set lady’ is a sculpture in continuous movement:
it leans, as if subject to an uncontrolled energy, and multiplied as
if seen through the splintered lens of a kaleidoscope.

‘house of bread’
in the contiguous space of the church of the institute,
fischer presents ‘house of bread’:
like something drawn by the coloured pencils of an imaginative
child, the house made entirely of bread is suspended between
fairy-tale vision and simple, archaic architecture.
like any other works by urs fischer, ‘house of bread’ has an
unstable destiny: it changes during the show, devoured by
a dozen multicoloured parrots.

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writings by urs fischer

‘each work begins with a quick sketch, but as soon as I start
to work with materials, something goes wrong.
for example, the thing won’t stand up and my irritation about
that then leads to something else. my work never ends up looking
the way I had intended. I don’t consider those sculptures unsuccessful.
something else just developed while I was working.
it’s a two way street. your thoughts determine the images,
and it is the images, in turn, which determine your thoughts.’

‘cartoons just work for me; they provide a language that is very simple
and efficient. my choice does not relate specifically to the legacy of
pop art. rather, it has to do with pop culture, because the historical
pop-sters levelled the ground for pop culture’s place in art.
today it’s impossible to distill the source.
do influence come from popular culture? or from pop art?
on one hand, a campbell’s tomato-soup can become an artwork;
on the other, the style of andy warhol turns into an ipod ad.’

‘I like classical genres – they work.
if you think about how much attention has been paid to the classical
media in recent decades, it’s usually with the attention of getting
rid of the burden of history and making room for something new
- but to a certain extent just for the sake of it.
so you can really make up your mind that this discussion is over,
and you can only work on matter.
just like sowing on freshly plowed soil.’

‘art and life converge in a system which keeps on expanding,
which I can put all my concerns into, where I can use everything
that I see. when I watch a documentary and I see how someone
drinks a coffee, puts on his coat and goes to work,
I begin to like that person.
I just work in the studio. every day, if I can.
iIt’s like an intoxication.
in the end I try to bring all the levels and directions together.
first it’s raining, than you have a little stream, and sometimes all the
stuff come together to make a lake.
then everything flows very slowly.
some things evaporate or seep away.
and it goes on.
sometimes there are floods, droughts, and storms.
so it’s all a question of personal weather.’

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urs fischer (1973)
lives and works in zurich.
he has had solo exhibitions in a number of international institutions
including centre pompidou, paris; kunsthaus zurich; ICA, london;
stedelijk museum, amsterdam.
the camden arts centre in london (2005) and the boijmans museum
in rotterdam (2006) are both currently preparing future solo shows.
urs fischer’s installations have been exhibited in some of the most
prestigious group exhibitions and biennials worldwide.
mong them: venice biennale; manifesta 3, ljubljana and monument
to now, athens.
more info on the artist
gallerie eva presshuber, zurich

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‘jet set lady’, 2005
iron, wood, 2000 framed drawings, 24 neon lights
700 x 700 x 900 cm
© urs fischer
produced by fondazione nicola trussardi, milano

detail of ‘jet set lady’, iron frames and death image
© urs fischer

untitled, 2000
apple, pear, screws, nylon
variable dimensions
© urs fischer

shot a different day
- just curious how often they exchane the apple/pear
© urs fischer

‘house of bread’, 2004
bread, wood, expanding foam, light
533 x 472 x 366 cm
© urs fischer