Urs Fischer
Nude & Snail, 2016
Cast bronze, acrylic primer, gesso, oil paint
6 1/4 x 11 1/8 x 6 5/8 inches (15.9 x 28.3 x 16.8 cm)
© Urs Fischer Photo by Mats Nordman Courtesy of the artist & Vito Schnabel Gallery
Today TEFAF New York will return for its eighth iteration at the Park Avenue Armory. To ring in the festivities, Gagosian presents a special exhibition juxtaposing the photographs of Man Ray and the work of Urs Fischer.
As a key figure in the Dada and Surrealist movements, Ray’s artistic practice was characterized through constant experimentation that rejected the traditional modes of photography. As part of its showing, Gagosian will display Ray’s Les grands-trans-parents (c. 1970–75), a decorative oval mirror mounted on a sage green velvet support, with the enigmatic phrase of the title scrawled by the artist in black ink on the glass surface. The work playfully refers to André Breton’s concept of the “Great Transparents” — or unseen forces that cause illogical events to transpire around the world. In Ray’s work, the text intentionally disrupts the viewer’s ability to see themselves, negating the function of the mirror, and in turn, reflecting a disillusionment with the surrounding space.