Birth name: Urs Fischer
Born: 1973 Zurich, Switzerland
Nationality: Swiss
Education: Studied ‘Photography‘ at the Schule für Gestaltung, Zurich
Awards: 2006 The Vincent Van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe 2006 (nominee), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2000 Delfina Studios, London, (residency), 1999 Providentia-Preis, Young Art Eidgenössisches Stipendium für freie Kunst, 1997 Kiefer-Hablitzel Stipendium, 1995 Eidgenössisches Stipendium für freie Kunst.
Represented by Sadie Coles HQ, London, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Gavin Browns' Enterprise, New York
Urs Fischer was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1973. He has had solo shows throughout Europe and the USA, including Urs Fischer: Kir Royal, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, both in 2004.
Fischer uses a range of mediums to express the transience of art and, concomitantly, the human condition. Fischer has described his regard for the boredom that comes with everyday activities, and in his work the prominence of chairs and shadows "often fused together into one object" is an indication of the artist's interest in equilibrium in time. Alternately, the artist has produced completely ephemeral works of art, including wax sculptures of three nude women that he made for his exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ in London. Entitled What If the Phone Rings (2003), the pieces were lit like candles during the opening and allowed to melt away over the course of the exhibition.
His work has been included in numerous group shows including three consecutive appearances at the Venice Biennale in 2003, 2005, and 2007, and was part of The Third Mind – Carte blanche à Ugo Rondinone, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2007.
Urs Fischer currently lives and works between New York, Los Angeles and Berlin.