Urs Fischer to unveil a monumental wave in Paris

Christina Catherine Martinez

The Swiss artist discusses his landmark project for Place Vendôme

Read about Urs Fischer’s project on Place Vendôme on Art Basel Stories. 

Gagosian is pleased to present Urs Fischer’s public sculpture Wave (2018) on Paris’s Place Vendôme as part of Paris+ par Art Basel. Wave is the sixth sculpture in the ‘Big Clays’ series. These sculptures start with one or more small pieces of clay that the artist molds by hand. After making hundreds of these shapes, he chooses one that he digitally scans and then recreates it on a larger scale. As a result, the work keeps the detailed tactility of its smaller model, even when blown-up to the size of a monument.

The ten works in the ‘Big Clays’ series, all made from aluminum, have been on public display in cities such as Florence and New York. Wave, as well as another work from the series, L’Arc (2016), were created through a milling process that lends it greater surface detail and reframes the authorial hand. Standing more than 5 meters tall, the work seems caught between formation and disintegration, and reflects the artist’s fascination with the transformed shape, reminding us of the dripping wax of his candle sculptures. Wave is both abstract and figurative, contemporary and timeless.

The project is presented by Gagosian (New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Geneva, Basel, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong, Gstaad).

Audioguide

Click here to listen to our audioguide and learn more about Urs Fischer’s sculpture Wave.

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Urs Fischer

About the artist

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1973, lives and works in New York, USA.

Urs Fischer mines the potential of materials – from clay, steel, and paint to bread, dirt, and produce – creating works that disorient and bewilder. His sculptures, paintings, photographs, and installations revel in macabre wit and playful intellect, exploring themes of perception and representation while challenging traditional values of art making as he pushes materials to their extremes. Through scale distortions, illusion, and the juxtaposition of common objects, his sculptures, paintings, photographs, and large-scale installations explore themes of perception and representation while maintaining a witty irreverence and mordant humor.

Urs Fischer in his studio in New York, 2017. © Photo: Robert Banat.