Urs Fischer

Urs Fischer was born in 1973 in Zürich, in Switzerland; he lives and works in New York.


Working with collage, drawing, sculpture, and most notably installation, Urs Fischer is known worldwide for large-scale sculptures and installations that explore a wide range of materials from popular culture, focusing on making objects borrowed from everyday life. “Everybody likes objects; everybody likes different objects”, he has said. “It comes down to what objects you want to put in your art.”


One of Fischer’s interests is the spontaneous process of creation and decay of materials over time. A primary example is Untitled (2011), presented at the Venice Biennale the same year – an uncanny reproduction of Giambologna’s sculpture Rape of the Sabine Women made of wax and slowly melting over the exhibition space. Another recent trajectory of Fischer’s artistic research relates to the possibility of creating innovative objects and shapes in the virtual world. In 2022 he presented the digital sculptures CHAOS #1–#500 at the Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, featuring computer-generated objects that would orbit and intersect with one another.


Whether utilizing ephemeral mediums such as soft wax and foodstuffs, or digitalized objects, at the core of Fischer’s practice remains the mining of the endless possibilities offered by materials and textures.

ROLLING STONE URS FISCHER 2009201613608colori formato vod U9 U

Biography

Solo exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2024
F, Beauty, Gagosian, Paris
2023
UK, Flea Circus, Sadie Coles Bury Street, London
USA, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Fontainelebleau Hotel, Las Vegas
USA, Ice Cream Truck Democracy, Gagosian, Beverly Hills
2022
F, L’arc, Station F, Paris
IL, PLAY, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
USA, Denominator, Gagosian, New York
MEX, Lovers, Museo Jumex, Mexico City
2021
F, Bourse de Commerce Pinault Collection, Bourse de Commerce Pinault Collection, Paris
2019
RL, The Lyrical and The Prosaic, Aishti Foundation, Beirut
D, Sirens, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
USA, Images, Gagosian, Beverly Hills
2018
UK, Maybe, The Modern Institute, Glasgow
USA, SŌTATSU, Gagosian, New York
UK, Dasha, Gagosian, London
USA, Play, Gagosian, New York
USA, Things, Gagosian, New York
2017
USA, you, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York
USA, Bus Stop, Permanent installation, Paradise Plaza, Miami
I, Faules Fundament (Rotten Foundation)!, Karma, New York
USA, Urs Fischer x Katy Perry: Bliss, 39 Spring Street, New York
I, In Florence, Piazza Signoria, Firenze
UK, The Kiss, Sadie Coles HQ, London
HK, Urs Fischer, Gagosian, Hong Kong
USA, Urs Fischer: The Public & the Private, The Legion of Honor, San Francisco
2016
F, "Mon Cher ...", Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles
USA, Ursula, JTT, New York
USA, Untitled (Lamp/Bear), Simmons Quad, Brown University, Providence
USA, Mind Moves, Gagosian Gallery, San Francisco
USA, Misunderstandings in the Quest for the Universal, Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, New York
RUS, Small Axe, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
I, Battito di Ciglia, Massimo De Carlo, Milano
Group exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2023
USA, Rear View, LGDR, New York
2022
UK, REPEATER, Sadie Coles HQ, London
UK, Haunted Realism, Gagosian, London
USA, The Painter’s New Tools, Nahmad Contemporary, New York
CH, SWISS MADE From Ferdinand Hodler to Urs Fischer, Gagosian, Gstaad
2021
USA, The Paradox of Stillness: Art, Object, and Performance, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
I, Villa Chiuminatto, Villa Chiuminatto, Torino
2019
USA, People, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles
2018
CN, New York By Night, Hadrien de Montferrand, Beijing
I, Dancing with Myself Curated by Martin Bethenod, Florian Ebner, Punta della dogana, Venezia
USA, Close at Hand: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture, Gagosian Gallery, San Francisco
CH, Wendepunkte. Von Nolde bis Oppenheim, Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, Zürich
USA, Kiss Off, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York
AUS, Eurovisions: Contemporary Art from the Goldberg Collection Curated by Sue Cramer, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
RU, General Rehearsal, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow
USA, About Photography, Gagosian Gallery, San Francisco
B, Object: Administration, Kanal Centre Pompidou, Bruxelles
USA, Like Life: Sculpture, Color and the Body, The Met Breuer, New York
D, How to See [What Isn't There] Curated by Gianni Jetzer, Langen Foundation, Neuss
USA, Mad World, Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles
UK, Nudes, Sadie Coles HQ, London
2017
USA, Midtown, Lever House, New York
USA, The Transported Man, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing
USA, ProjectArt Presents: My Kid Could Do That, Red Bull Arts, New York
NL, Bearable Lightness of Being, Grimm, Amsterdam
D, moving is in every direction. Environments — Installations — Narrative Spaces, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
AU, Versus Rodin: Bodies across space and time, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
USA, Black and White, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton
USA, Provocateur: From Picabia to Prince, Edward Ressle Gallery, New York
A, Printed Matters II, Gesso Artspace, Vienna
UK, The gap between the fridge and the cooker, The Modern Institute, Glasgow
UK, Frieze Sculpture 2017, The Regent’s Park, London

Bibliography

Year
Author, Publication Title, Date
2021
Hypebeast, April
Casson, Elisa, Elle, January 6,
Attardo, Katie, Marie Claire, January, 6
ArtReview, April
2020
Gusti, Camilla, il messaggero, December
2018
Wilson, Michael, Artforum, December
Numéro Art, March
2017
Godino, Federico, Artribune, November
Gagosian, November
2016
Gagosian
Sotheby's Preferred, April
Mousse, 16 May
2015
McEwen, Adam e Urs Fischer, Mousse, May
2014
ArtReview, Summer
2012
Scoccimarro, Antonio, Mousse, May
Casavecchia, Barbara, Art Review, Summer
2011
Carbone, Barbara, FOOL, Luglio
Roelstraete, Dieter, Frieze, September
Perretta, Gabriele, Segno, October/December
2010
Skin Fruit. Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, Exhibition Catalogue. New York, New Museum
Rugoff, Ralph, Hal Foster e Michelle Kuo, The New Décor, Exhibition Catalogue. London, Hayward Gallery
2009
Stocchi, Francesco, Domus
Bucarelli, Viviana, Vernissage, Vernissage, 'n' 109, 'p' pp. 12-13
A guest + A Host = A Gost, Exhibition Catalogue. Atene, DESTE Foundation
Nicolin, Paola, Kaleidoscope, November-December
2008
Blasted Allegories-Works from the Ringier Collection, Exhibition Catalogue.
Art Now 3
Deitch, Jeffrey, Fractured Figure. Works From The Dakis Joannou Collection, Exhibition Catalogue. Atene, Deste Foundation
De Bellis, Vincenzo, Flash Art Italia
2007
Hoffmann, Jens e Christina Kennedy, The Huge Lane, Exhibition Catalogue. Dublin City Gallery, 'p' pp. 67-69
Deitch, Jeffrey, Fractured Figure. Works From The Dakis Joannou Collection, Exhibition Catalogue. Atene, Deste Foundation
Sequence 1. Pittura e scultura nella collezione François Pinault, Exhibition Catalogue. Venezia, Palazzo Grassi

Public collections

Country
Location
Australia
John Kaldor Collection
Belgium
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels
Costa Rica
The Kader Collection
France
Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
Fondation Carmignac, Paris
FRAC - Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Marseille
François Pinault Foundation, Paris
LUMA Foundation, Arles
Germany
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
Friedrich Christian Flick Collection
Goetz Collection, Münich
Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin
Hong Kong
Burger Collection
Israel
Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv
Italy
Collezione Maurizio Morra Greco, Napoli
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino
Heinz Peter Hager, Bolzano
Il Giardino dei Lauri, collezione Massimo Lauro, San Litardo
Lebanon
Tony Salamé, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut
Mexico
Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Ciudad de México
Norway
Collection Erling Kagge, Oslo
Portugal
Fundação de Serralves, Contemporary Art Museum, Porto
Switzerland
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel
Kunstsammlung der Stadt Zürich, Zürich
MASILugano Museo d'arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano
Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich
Sammlung Ringier Swiss Re Art Collection, Zürich
Theo + Elsa Hotz Privatsammlung, Meilen
The Netherlands
Museum van Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
United Kingdom
The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow

Downloads

Type
Title
CV
Urs Fischer