Urs Fischer

Swiss artist Urs Fischer has gained a reputation with works in which he playfully manipulates reality. With illusionist and sculptural means, Fischer is building up an oeuvre full of hidden meanings, associative combinations, humor and seriousness. Fischer's work crosses the boundaries of normal seeing. For Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Fischer is making a broad selection from existing and new works, which he will place in an extremely theatrical setting.

The presentation at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen provides a good overview of his oeuvre, which is still young. Urs Fischer (1973, Zürich) selected twenty works for it, in collaboration with the museum. The works of art are spatial as well as two-dimensional. He places them in the three large Bodon galleries of the museum, and will also cover all the walls with mirrors. This gives the entire presentation a dizzying, theatrical effect, causing an unusual physical relationship between the visitors and the works.

In addition, during the exhibition, a work will be placed in public space, just outside the museum. The eight meter high teddy bear, bisected by a desk lamp, will 'come to life' in the evenings, when it is lit up. Firmly in the Surrealist tradition of Lautréamont, this sculpture fuses two completely unlike objects in an almost organic way, to create a new, expressive and enigmatic monument. Urs Fischer's bear is a wondrous herald of the exhibition. With its monumental proportions, it lends itself especially well to its positioning as a project within the H & F Patronage, which has made this part of the exhibition possible. The bear is currently being manufactured out of synthetic material. The work is a prototype that could later also become available in a bronze edition.

Figurative, recognizable, humorous Fischer divides his time between New York and Zürich. His work was presented, among other places, at the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial in New York, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and at the Kunsthaus Zürich. At the last edition of the Frieze art fair in London, Fischer used a chainsaw to make many holes in the stand of his regular gallery, Presenhuber. This resulted in a very transparent and airy presentation of the exhibition.

Fischer teaches at the Amsterdam studios, and his work could previously be seen in the Netherlands at Bureau Amsterdam. All of his works begin with a small sketch; not until he starts to work with the material do 'things go wrong'. If the object doesn't want to stay upright, the irritation this causes leads to a new development. From this point of view, his work consists of 'lucky accidents'. It looks spontaneous, but the accidents have been constructed very painstakingly and with great craftsmanship. Fischer provides a new view of everyday reality. At the same time, his oeuvre always remains figurative, recognizable and humorous. It is characterized by Dadaist and Surreal combinations, rhyming images, 'winks' and ideas. He mainly uses classical techniques such as drawing, sculpture and painting. The way the material is used is always important. He doesn't depend on technology or design; what means more to him is the power the work exudes. 'My work has to be close to the things I think about and the things I do.'

Realm of madness Within the huge proportions of a 'mirror stage' at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the installations acquire a metaphorical enlargement. Thus, balloons on broomsticks and burning candles on slowly revolving branches are reflected, a Swiss cheese reeks powerfully, there is a house built entirely out of bread, and psychedelic paintings can be seen. In this way, Urs Fischer enters the realm of madness at the museum. Escaping the sense of unease that his work evokes is impossible.

The exhibition was partly made possible thanks to a contribution from H & F Projects and Pro Helvetia

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Urs Fischer