Urs Fischer is a Swiss artist known for his explorative use of diverse materials—from traditional mediums like clay and steel to unconventional elements such as bread, dirt, and produce. Through scale distortions, illusions, and unexpected object juxtapositions, Fischer's sculptures, paintings, photographs, and installations examine themes of perception and representation, often with a humorous irreverence.
Fischer studied photography at Zurich's Schule für Gestaltung before living in London, Los Angeles, Berlin, and New York, sharing a studio with Rudolf Stingel in both Berlin and New York. His works explore themes of absence and presence, art production processes, and anthropomorphism, as seen in early pieces like Stuhl mit (1995–2001), where fabric-covered legs merge with a chair, and Studies for chairs for individual seating positions (1993), in which sawdust molds evoke human presence.
Fischer frequently incorporates food in his work, using its decay as a reminder of mortality. Rotten Foundation (1998) features a brick structure on rotting produce, and Untitled (Bread House) (2004–05) presents a Swiss chalet made of bread, left for parakeets to consume. His Problem Paintings series (2010–) layers portraits with objects like eggs and peppers, symbolizing life’s fragility and transience.
In 2009, Fischer's Marguerite de Ponty exhibition at New York's New Museum marked his first large-scale solo show in an American museum, showcasing installations that transformed rooms into surreal environments. At the 2011 Venice Biennale, his wax sculpture based on Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women melted alongside wax figures of everyday objects, demonstrating his focus on entropy and tradition. Fischer debuted with Gagosian in 2012 and has since exhibited frequently. Highlights include the YES project at MOCA Los Angeles, where 1,500 volunteers created clay sculptures; PLAY (2018), where animated chairs interacted with visitors; CHAOS #1–#500 (2022) at the Marciano Art Foundation; and Denominator (2020–22), an LED installation exploring media fragments at Gagosian in New York.
Fischer continues to push boundaries, combining complex playfulness with refined execution in each new project.
