Artist of the week: Urs Fischer
ARTinvestment.RU   29 ноября 2013

From November 20 2013 to January 18, 2014 in the heart of Sadie Coles HQ in London to see a new exhibition-installation Urs Fischer's "Romance" - 3000 large multicolored plastic "drops" hanging on the line, against the backdrop

I think that being an artist - it's bad
for any human being.
It's awful. You want to create something ,
but you are constantly trying to decide what exactly .
Urs Fischer

Urs Fischer - one of the most prominent representatives of contemporary art. Provocateur , an innovator in many ways , humorist and one of the most popular artists of today , he embodies imagination and thought ( funny and nightmarish ) into reality in the literal sense of the word . His works often seem frozen dream incarnate in the real world , and do not leave anyone indifferent .

Urs Fischer Born May 2, 1973 in Zurich. About his childhood , little is known : he was not particularly spread about his personal life. But in one of his interviews, he mentioned that he grew up in a family of doctors . His father was a surgeon , worked with complicated injuries and kept in the garage photos of patients - both before and after surgery . Urs recalled that teens liked to consider these photos together with his sister , he was interested in the idea of the body as material , shape-shifting . In all other respects to the age of sixteen he was an ordinary teenager, rather inclined to sit down with friends in a cafe than to talk about art .

He has no formal art education, but studied photography at the School of Design in Zurich. In 1993, 20 -year-old Fisher moved to Amsterdam and come to grips with the fine arts - creating drawings , collages, objects and large-scale installations. Experts attribute this early stage of his work in the first place with such artistic and philosophical currents as neodadaizm , Lost art and even situationism (today , however, he changed the preferences and does not hide belonging to Scientology ) . That is the artist at the time was most interested in various countercultural direction, contrasting their own creativity socially approved forms of expression .

URS FISCHER Installation" Untitled "(" 50 stones "). Installation " Skeleton ". 1996 50 river stones , bricks, cement , clay Source : ursfischer.com

Despite the resistance of traditional art , it work well accepted by critics : in 1995 and in 1999 he was awarded the Prize of the Federal independent Art in 1996 in one of the galleries in Zurich held his first solo exhibition .

Since the mid -1990s Fisher and many successfully exhibited throughout Europe, and in 1999 he came to live and work in New York , who became his second home : here is his constant workshop, here grows his daughter . On the question of why he chose New York, in an interview, Fisher replied : « I tried to live in other places. They too monocultural . I like the variety . " In this case, Fisher finds himself primarily European .

URS FISCHER Untitled . 2000 Apple, pear , nylon thread , screw Source : ursfischer.com

URS FISCHER . The Human Layer. 1999 gypsum , clay, acrylic, silicone, fruit. 20 × 50 × 50 Source : ursfischer.com

Variety New York helped greatly and creative development of the artist. He learns things on their own , reading art books , watching what and how others are doing. In an interview more than once admitted that he was pleased to buy the work of those who like him - just to enjoy them in their free time , and closely examines the work of those whose views on art are not close to him - because it is always interesting to study the process of thinking, a great on their own .

general for Fisher greatest importance is not aesthetic , namely the intellectual component of what he does and sees some system images associations , unclosed composition . " During the Renaissance, artists working on figurative embodiment of concepts such as heaven and hell . So they helped build public consciousness. Today is engaged pop culture - it accessible , faster, better. Art is no longer needed. In terms of the impact on people and the beauty incarnation of us closest to Michelangelo worth of Walt Disney . ... I do not think that art is important in so far as is commonly believed. For the part of society that wants to oppose the mass culture, art - this is their Disney ... I'm disappointed that it seems impossible to create even better work of art. We're all lazy. Why can not I do exactly as I imagined it will introduce , as I actually like ? »( Urs Fischer ).

URS FISCHER You . 2007 Digging gallery space Source : ursfischer.com

URS FISCHER Installation . 2000 cutout in the wall. Mixed media Source : ursfischer.com

That's it and tends to run itself Fisher - on the basis of their own ideas about art, not limiting themselves any direction , appliances and even an art . Art Fisher last two decades can be called a kind of continuation of the ideas of Dada , Pop Art , Surrealism. In many installations , sculptures and printmaking techniques he uses and the ready-made , and hyperrealism , the favorite material , too , seems not - in the course are foam , clay , mirrors, wax, wood, glass , paint, dust , silicone and so on .

URS FISCHER Good Problem. 2013 aluminum , enamel , acrylic. 243,8 × 182,9 × 3,2 Christie's. 13.05.2013 . Lot 16 Estimate: 000-550 450 000 dollars Result: 1,102,500 dollars Source : christies.com

his designs are metaphorical , witty and sarcastic . Suffice it to recall the huge pit dug them in the floor gallery Gavin Brown's in 2007 , or a series of works Problem Paintings 2012/2013 period, in which he added public photos and portraits of Hollywood actors and other celebrities different subjects or their hyper-realistic images ( two or three-dimensional) , replacing part of the human face . As such additions Fisher used mushrooms, beet tops (Gagosian, Beverly Hills, 2012) , a fried egg (Gagosian, Rome, 2013 ) , faucet , etc. ( Before Fisher something similar in the XVI century Arcimboldo worked , but he was more grounded and not so inventive in the choice of material .)

Initially Fischer was fun to change the space without intruding into the essence of matter, inhabiting this space - he filled the rooms of gallery stones dug into them pits , leaving heaps of earth , cut through the wall , opening the way for outside air . Peculiar sort of readymade . Later immutable form of objects came from the author in the ideological contradiction. Once art is not subject to the laws , but is intended to embody something imaginary , hence the work of art can not be the same, it should be changed as well as the images follow each other in the head creator - quickly and uncontrollably. And now the space in which are his creations , changes along with themselves for what Fisher uses material changes which he can not control : fruit and bread - change the shape , color and smell , candles - melting, melting wax and although nowhere disappears , but it changes shape (and even , for a short time , the aggregate state ) , exudes warmth . Fisher lets his work vary arbitrarily and cause different emotions and associations throughout the entire period of its existence . For example, in 2000 the installation , he sewed pairs halves of fruits and vegetables , such as bananas and eggplant , and hung them in the gallery space , allowing viewers to watch the changes occurring to get fancy organic objects .

URS FISCHER What if the phone rings. 2003 wax , pigment, wick . 106 × 142 × 46 Source : ursfischer.com

URS FISCHER No name ( Rape of the Sabines ) . 2011 wax , pigment, wick steel Source : ursfischer.com

In 2003, Fisher discovered a new material capable to implement his ideas , - wax. The exhibition at the gallery Sadie Coles were first presented his giperrealisticheskie waxworks . Casting anything was out of wax artist is not limited - it's too easy . Interesting pour wax , such as a fruit plate - wax retain their shape when the fruits of its loss . Why food ? « It is alive - says Fisher. - ... The great thing about fruit is that by themselves they are only growing medium around the seed ... and only reached the stage of decomposition , they give the seed material , allowing it to grow and become something independent ».

later, he perfected the use of wax. For the composition «What if the phone rings» he made three candles in the form of figures of naked women in full size in a very seductively , giant candles are lit throughout the show .

URS FISCHER Untitled ( Bread House ) . 2004 Mixed media . 406 × 372 × 421 Source : ursfischer.com

idea of ​​melting candle sculpture has been developed in the next draft of Urs Fischer's "The Rape of the Sabine Women "(" Untitled "), created for the show at the Venice Biennale - 2011 . This project - a three-part installation : a five-meter replica maneristskoy wax sculpture "The Rape of the Sabine Women" Italian Giovanni Bologna ( 1583 , Loggia dei Lanzi , Florence) and in front of her " audience " ( portrait artist friend at 1:1 ) - the character of our with you space in a free standing position - hands in pockets , sunglasses on his forehead - with a lighted wick on the head. " Sabine women " and " audience " made ​​of the same material , have the same qualities , the same may melt , while " spectator " and real people in the audience , too, are almost indistinguishable - and they all froze in thought before " Sabine women ." Thus, the " viewer " unites " Sabines " Bologna and Fisher , past and present , living people and wax figures , and still carries those meanings which sees him every visitor (eg , "frozen" for the product can be anyone but only " spectator "could freeze immediately in both senses of the word) ... Another interesting experiment with materials and techniques - " Bread House "(2004) . Of loaves of bread , foam and wood Fisher built a house in the manner of a life-size alpine huts and placed its four flightless parrot chicks , allowing them to eat the crumbs that are falling apart "house ».

URS FISCHER Daylight Pillow. 2004 Installation . 125 × 140 × 94 Christie's. 12/11/2013 . Lot 2 Estimate: 000-900 700 000 dollars Result: 1,085,000 dollars Source : christies.com

URS FISCHER Horse Fraud. 2011 Installation Christie's. 12/11/2013 . Lot 9 Estimate: 800 000-1 200 000 dollars Result: 785,000 dollars Source : christies.com

Fisher for the human body , plants, fruits , earth, wood , stone, clothespin , lamp, chair , etc. - materials of the same order and therefore have similar properties and equal importance. It simply plays with them , mixing them with one another in any proportions to achieve the desired result. Playing with different properties and qualities of objects , Fisher creates new forms , images of familiar objects the viewer ( often domestic, like a brick or a pack of cigarettes ) - for example, places the 4 photos of different facets of the same pack of cigarettes on the verge of a rectangle 4 . In this case the primary elements lose their specific properties - and to the forefront in common is that they have .

artist draws the viewer into their games is not only speculative and associative ( that's certainly, otherwise why were all the bother) , but literally , physically , ie, creates a special reality of being in which the viewer becomes part of the composition - as, for example , in the installations of "The Rape of the Sabine Women " or " Mrs. Fisher " (2011) , where viewers are in the artist's studio near naked «Model ».

URS FISCHER Horses Dream of Horses. 2004 Plastic, rubber paint , nylon thread , acrylic. Mixed media Source : ursfischer.com

URS FISCHER Tomorrow . 2010 Aluminium panel , mixed media. 243,8 × 182,9 Christie's. 22.09.2011 . Lot 19 Estimate: 000-400 300 000 dollars Result: 920,000 dollars Source : christies.com

November 20, 2013 in London, opened showing his new installation " Horror ." It traced motives and "Mrs. Fisher ," and the earlier work of Horses Dream of Horses ( 2004), containing "only" 1500 "drops" of different sizes. Fisher allows the viewer to feel like a midget , a child, invites him into a fantasy world in which no logic , the laws of proportion, physics. There's a huge "drops" (this element is common in Fisher - for example, in the film " Tomorrow " (2010 . Aluminium panel , acrylic), suspended on nearly invisible fishing line , fly over colorful Reclining female figures . This introduces man into the world of boundless imagination artist , literally embodying their fantasies into reality and gives us meaning and the art world again .

URS FISCHER Untitled ( " Lamp "Bear" "). 2005 Mixed media . 700 × 650,0 × 749 , 9 Christie's. 11.05.2011. Lot 32 Estimate on request Result: 6,802,500 dollars Source : christies.com

Fischer collaborates with many museums and places great emphasis on exhibitions , believing that "it is not dead space , and the area of creative ideas and energizing the author." in 2011 he exhibited on Park Avenue in New York, a seven-meter bronze " teddy " bear weight 20 tons, topped with a giant table lamp. "Concentration of different ideas without reference , - explained the work of the author - but I like the reaction of the drivers in the car ." Some time later, sculpture was auctioned at Christie's for nearly $ 7 million . in 2013, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA) was successfully held a retrospective of Fischer - perhaps the most ambitious of its exhibition .

Fischer appreciates not only the general public and professionals of museums, but also members of the art market .

URS FISCHER « Untitled " (" Standing "). 2010 Wax , pigment, wick steel . 189,2 × 78,7 × 52 Christie's. 08.05. 2012 . Lot 1 Estimate: 700 000-1 000 000 Result: 1 314 500 dollars Source : christies.com

URS FISHER Pinky. 2010 Aluminium panel , mixed media . 243,8 × 182,9 × 2,5 Christie's. 15.05. 2013 . Lot 2 Estimate: 400,000 - 600,000 dollars Result: 1203 750dollarov Source : christies.com

to date, there are more than 50 appearances works 40 -year-old artist in the catalogs of various auction houses (including Christie's and Phillips). nearly all of them are sold and almost always exceeding the estimate . Here are a couple of very recent results : the auction Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale Christie's auction house on November 12 this year, two of his works exhibited - Daylight Pillow 2004 (estimate 000-900 700 000 dollars, sold for 1.085 million dollars) and Horse Fraud in 2010 (estimate: 800 000-1 200 000 dollars sold for 785,000 dollars ).

Top three works by the artist today . Topping the list of the most expensive works of the artist takes the same " teddy bear " - sculpture 2005 "Untitled" ( "Lamp /Bear" ) , sold at Christie's May 11, 2011 for 6,802,500 dollars. second place ranking is a sculptural group in 2010 "Untitled" ( "Stand" ) - it cost the buyer at Christie's on May 8, 2012 to 1314 $ 500. This is followed by a picture Pinky, for which May 15, 2013 at Christie's new owner paid 1,203,750 dollars .

Maria Kuznetsova , AI

Sources : sadiecoles.com ; ursfischer.com ; vmireinteresnogo.com ; artlyst.com ; interviewmagazine.com ; artsy.net ; artsy.net ; blogforlife.org ; ru.wikipedia.org ; artinvestment.ru