A lot has been written lately in the art press about the work of Urs Fischer.
Is it art? Is it a rebellion against art or is the guy just a genius?
Born in Switzerland in 1973, the contemporary artist moved to New York and his work has been exhibited worldwide in some of the biggest most prestigious shows including the Venice Biennale and Manifest 3. The LA show is a collection of his previous works coupled with brand new pieces.
'I work everyday in the studio, its like an intoxication' he states of his obsessive urge to constantly produce pieces which are ever changing, always evolving and pleasingly random in subject, which really appeals to me. He isn't faithful to any particular medium, this week making a towering steel teddy bear sculpture, next week a collection of dust paintings or a massive crater dug into the floor of a gallery.
using all possible materials his exhibition is a visual funhouse of vivid colours, movement and distortions appealing to the child in us all. He presents his work in a playful interactive way making the viewer walk through raindrops suspended from the ceiling, step through holes chopped out of the gallery wall and dodge the many small clay sculptures scattered around the floor, each made not by Fischer but by a group of 1500 locals invited to take part in the show. These pieces vary in size and subject. Tiny heads, penis', animals and people splatter across the floor in what looks like chaos but is actually organised to by Fischer in a way that leads the visitors through a central pathway and out into an open area of larger sculptures.
Grand romanesque statues, created out of candle wax, slowly melt before our eyes whilst next to us a smartly dressed man studying the exhibition melts from his head down (also a wax statue).Both pieces constantly changing form as every drop of hot wax disfigures the perfect image making it constantly interesting to look at.
Reminiscent of Warhol's works, Fischers pop art inspired 'everyday object blocks' would easily sit next to Warhol's 'Campbell's soup tin' or 'washing powder boxes' and his 'Banana cube' almost mirrors Warhol's banana print. Each piece could have been produced buy either artist.
Fischer is a showman and his exhibition a masterpiece of all sorts and eye catchers and a lot of the work looks very 'American' with bold bright colours and oversized in your face pieces.
He makes art which should be looked at and enjoyed, grabbing influence from everywhere.
His work now demands big money and in 2011 his lamp/bear pieces fetched 6.8 million dollars when sold at Christies in New York.
With no formal art training and no time spent at art school he sees himself as a worker in the art world constantly producing, showing and selling.
I personally like Fischer's work, the fun, boldness and craziness of it all, and the fact that he isn't trying to push an underlying message down our throats. I look forward to seeing what he produces next.
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