Gagosian is pleased to participate in Frieze London 2018 with a presentation of new works by Urs Fischer: three large-scale triptychs and a small sculpture in two parts.
Evolving from the nine-part painting Sōtatsu (2018), exhibited earlier this year at Gagosian New York, the paintings are made by hand using a digital substrate, then silkscreened onto aluminium panels—imbuing the flat realm of the touchscreen or tablet with an analog tactility. In each triptych, the first panel depicts a blurry mirage of one of Fischer's personal spaces: a lush garden terrace, a dimly lit living room, a kitchen teeming with still-life and art objects. Then, in the second and third panels, the image seems to dissipate in patches and smears, revealing areas of gleaming aluminium that softly reflect the viewer and the surrounding environment, including the adjacent paintings. In these transformational tableaux, Fischer suggests a visual realm where reality and abstraction coexist.
The sculpture comprises two miniature cats, each about eighteen centimetres in height. Displayed on a pedestal, their bodies are rendered in sandblasted steel, imparting a satiny sheen, and one of the cats wears a helmet of polished chrome. Though subtly related to the textures and motifs of the surrounding paintings, the cats seem to have migrated from an entirely different time or place, their odd, in-between scale adding to a sense of surrealistic whimsy.
Dasha (2018)—a larger-than-life-size wax candle depicting Dasha Zhukova—is currently on view at Gagosian Davies Street, London, until November 3, 2018. Throughout the course of the exhibition, strategically positioned wicks on the figure are lit and the portrait slowly collapses into a pile of wax drippings—a visceral reminder of the transience of life, beauty, and even art.
Urs Fischer was born in Zurich in 1973 and lives and works in New York. Collections include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels; FRAC-Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Marseille, France; Fondation Carmignac, Paris; Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; and Museo d'arte della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. Recent institutional exhibitions include Kir Royal, Kunsthaus Zürich (2004); Not My House Not My Fire, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004); Mary Poppins, Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of the University of Houston, TX (2006); 52nd Biennale di Venezia (2007); Marguerite de Ponty, New Museum, New York (2009-2010); 54th Biennale di Venezia (2011); Skinny Sunrise, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2012); Madame Fisscher, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2012); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2013); YES, DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, Greece (2013); Small Axe, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2016); Mon cher..., Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France (2016); and Urs Fischer: The Public & the Private, Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (2017).
Opening Days & Hours
Wednesday Preview 3 October (Invitation only)
Thursday Preview 4 October: 12pm-8pm
Thursday Private View 4 October: 5pm-8pm
Friday 5 - Saturday 6 October: 12pm-7pm
Sunday 7 October: 12pm-6pm
Gagosian represents these artists: