About the Exhibit - The Intelligence of Nature

Urs Fischer’s exhibit, The Intelligence of Nature, at Sadie Coles HQ’s Kingly Street location was on view from June 4th - July 31st, 2021.

Fischer created these works during a period of solitude when in quarantine during the pandemic. He was inspired by his home and garden in LA, which you can see referenced in many of these works. 

“Impromptu music, from the 19th and early 20th century, free-form music prompted by the spirit of the occasion, is a description of nature, one that is free from the complicated structure of an operatic or orchestral score. In some ways this is how I understand these paintings. As a simple, emotional, gestural interaction. A natural reaction.” – Urs Fischer (source)

The exhibition title revolves around the idea of “small moments that have become big.” When Fischer was forced to stay within a confined space for a long period of time, like many of us, he dived deeper into how dynamism can be found in the ordinary and the everyday. 

The exhibit spans the entire upper floor of the gallery, and it’s divided into three separate rooms. In each room the paintings have a slightly different aesthetic and meaning. 

“In the first room the paint takes on a more figurative aspect; in the second room it leaves the figure and becomes more of a pattern; and in the third room, with the monotone suggesting petrification, it is almost like a memory.”– Urs Fischer (source)

Video of the Exhibit

To see a walkthrough of the exhibit, see the video below.

About the Artist - Urs Fischer

Urs Fischer was born in  Zurich, Switzerland and now lives and works in New York. 

“His practice traverses the fields of painting, sculpture and installation, as well as photography and drawing, in a multifaceted body of work that eludes formal or generic categorisation, coaxing comparisons with the multifarious practices of Martin Kippenberger, Franz West, Fischli & Weiss, and others.” - Sadie Coles HQ (source) 

“His subversive approach to art is often considered to be influenced by anti-art movements like Neo-Dada, Lost Art, or the Situationist International” - Kunsthalle Wien

You can learn more about Fischer on his website or Instagram.