“Beautiful sculptures made out of what? Wax! Artist Urs Fischer ‘s installment of wax figures will be at the Arsenale Complex for this year’s Venice Biennale. His work includes a melting man standing and gazing upon a statue: Giovanni Bologna’s 16th Century “The Rape of the Sabine Women”. Throughout the show, the wax figures slowly fall apart…limb by limb.” (On view until November 2011)
“An engineer of imaginary worlds, in the past Urs Fischer has created sculptures in a rich variety of materials including unstable substances such as melting wax and rotting vegetables. In a continuous search for new plastic solutions, Fischer has built houses out of bread and given life to animated puppets; he has dissected objects or blown them out of proportion in order to reinvent our relationship to them. In 2007, in a now-legendary exhibition, he excavated the floor of his New York gallery, digging a crater within the exhibition space.
Throughout his work, with ambitious gestures and irreverent panache, Fischer explores the secret mechanisms of perception, combining a Pop immediacy with a neo-Baroque taste for the absurd.”
(An excerpt from The New Museum,2009)
46 comments:
Their extremely detailed works, especially seeing as even the clothing is made of wax. The symbolism is also very potent here: that you have a modern man clothed in business attire, and he's melting from the head down, potentially showing how our capabilities for technical thinking have deterred humanity from some innate purpose. Its also interesting to see that he left the face unpainted, taking advantage of the material he's using to give the person a simple feel and directing the focal point to the candle.
I wouldn't expect many sculptors to use wax as their choice of sculpting material simply because it can melt under so much so many degrees. However, to have the patience to create such beautiful and detailed art with all the constraints that come along with using wax, he still uses it and uses it well. I love the risks that he takes with using wax and then allowing it to burn to let people get the true essence and depth of his work. The man is truly talented at the least. I would love to see this work in real life, maybe even touch it! Haha.
two points...
What are those strings hanging from his head supposed to be?
And I agree with DomDiva. I you have to have A LOT of patience working with something so temperamental. And to think that if the air conditioning in that building were to ever be cut off, his sculptures would be ruined..
I think it is really interesting to use wax as the medium especially if he is melting it down as the display. I think it would be hard to let the whole piece melt after creating it because then you can never see it again after it melts. However the detail Fischer puts into the figures looks quite realistic. I was amazed by the one that kind of looked like a statue from European history.
I'm not sure if this is what the artist intended, or if the wax just melted this way, but I find it interesting that his glasses are above his eyes and aren't really being used. Even though the man is looking intensely at the other sculpture, his casual pose and unused glasses make me question if he really cares about the other sculpture at all or if he's just looking to look.
At first the wax sculptures appeared to be made of stone and the man a real man because of all the detail that was put into them. Until you notice the dippings and candle melting away at the man's head and slowly destroying him. I think that the artist chose wax to make a point about our lives and how we are slowly dying and all we do is watch other people do amazing things while we watch. I love the detail and realistic approach the artist uses.
I was surprised by the pictures of these wax sculptures because of the perfect detail that they have. The sculptures look like real people (for the most part), as the shapes and textures appear to be real. It's also really interesting how the man seems to be melting. The artist seems to be making a commentary on the lack of participation of many people in society even when there are many problems that need to be fixed.
I'm amazed by Urs Fischer's works because he builds these detailed and complex structures with wax, that eventually melt away when he puts a candle on them. The piece of the man looking at the other structure is very symbolic of the emotions that can take over a person when looking at moving artwork. I would love to see some of Fischer's work in person.
It almost makes me mad that he just lets the sculptures fall apart like that. He obviously puts a lot of work in them-they're so detailed-but he just lets them fall apart. They're amazing, though!
I agree with others saying that its sad that all this hard work ends up being destroyed but on the other hand, I find it really amazing how much detail is put into each piece.
I find the level of detail of each of these sculptures to be absolutely fascinating. I agree with everyone else who has said that even though they are made of max, they look realistic beyond belief. Now that we are working with wax in class, I realize that even though wax is relatively easy to manipulate, making intricate/precise designs on wax requires a lot of skill, thus making Fischer's pieces all the more impressive.
"the wax figures slowly fall apart…limb by limb" -- as in self-destruction? Although many artists like to make a lasting mark on the world, I think the pieces that are interactive with time are also worth making, not only because it's exhilarating watching them evolve, but also because some things can only be healed, or in this case, stated through destruction, with time.
the idea is cool, but i am not the bigest fan of sculpturs of people
I imagine this must have taken forever to do. Working with wax in sculpture 1, I know some of the challenges the material presents. I am amzed at how life like the scultpures look. Th artists has talent.
With wax being a temporary material it was an interesting choice for the artist to choose it to create their pieces.I wonder if the artist was making a statement about the way we view art.
Since we're making wax sculptures in class we all know how hard it is to work with wax. It makes Fischer's sculptures even more awing because of the level of detail. It is sad that his sculpture will melt away, but I also think it speaks on how we all are slowly and inevitably dying.
After working with wax for the past two weeks, i feel as though i can really understand how challenging his art is. The details in all the people are amazing. It is also very interesting to use wax in the first place, especially with the flame to make a sort of candle. I know for me personally it would be heart breaking to watch my work melt before my eyes. Also, i wonder how the exhibit opened. Did people have to arrive at a designated time?
This is what I imagined my Haunted house scene to look like, really smooth, detailed and overall a great composition. I like the fact that he has these melting. Even though all that hard work is gone with the heat, I still like the fact that it doesn't last forever, that's what photography is for. I see this piece as almost perfection, and the fact that it melts shows perfection just doesn't last forever.
The use of waxes meltability is greatly utilized in these projects,the melted max by the ears reminds me of jewish curls.
The fact that they slowly start to break apart "limb by limb" seems very interesting to me. There has to be a reason why these works are not intended to be permanent.
The fact that he destroys his art every time is really cool and you will never see the same one twice. his intricacy and detail is amazing and the pieces are truly beautiful. I love the idea and his pieces are amazing
There is a lot of detail in those pieces. I think it is cool that the wax is melting down the sides of the man's head. It is interesting to think that the artist can make a sculpture and slowly melt it down, once it is completely melted they can shape it into something completely different.
I think the artist use of the wax and how it's melting away due to the heat of the fire really depicts how many people fold in the face of adversity. When things get hard and your feeling the heat you melt at the pressure.
so the statues are going to eventualy melt away right? then they will be no more. i wonder how he put the string throught the body (you know the one that the fire travels on, because that path is the way that the statues are going to melt. must reprent something about life or something cuz people are melting!
I really like this piece. A many people have said before me, I like the concept of the sculpture melting as time progresses. I think this action of melting is meant to depict the concept that nothing is definite or invincible to the erosion of time.
I really like how realistic each of the pieces look. Working with wax is more difficult than i thought it would be and I can't imagine the amount of effort it took to create each of these. I don't understand why he would choose to melt them both. Maybe he wanted to suggest that nothing lasts forever and that all good things will eventually come to an end.
I love the extreme amount of detail in each piece. I like how the artist carefully displayed the wax to show different textures on the clothes and appearance of the man. I also appreciate the precision the artist used and the dripping format of the pieces as well as what it represents to the artist. I like the realism of the pieces. I would love to be able to see the pieces on person and meet the artist. I would ask the artist what kind of canvas and tools they used to carve and shape the wax in that format.
I have to agree with Maurice Goodman. I noticed that Urs chose to have the man melt from the head down. I think he is trying to portray how humans have gotten to a point where their brains are fried and it's so hard to focus on finding the true meaning of things rather than copying what you just read or heard. The man seems to be trying to focus on the melting sculpture despite the deterrence. I also would like to point out that Urs uses many deconstructing characteristics in his art work. For example, he uses melting wax, rotting vegetables, and dissected objects to make art. He is trying to give art a whole new meaning. In his mind, art can be about take something apart as opposed to building it and putting it all together.
After working with wax for a while I have found it hard to show detail and texture. In the sculpture of the man it is so detailed in the hair and the suit. I found this very impressive
The use of wax in such a manner is quiet shocking to me, I would not say I'm that in love with these pieces though. I appreciate the detail of the sculptures but the figures seem simple or just something done plenty of times before... maybe they are so good I'm fooled they are made of stone or an easier material to make such large sculptures.
I didn't realize that the man was looking at the statue until the last picture. It's interesting to think about how the man is just staring and melting away.
its amazing how people dedicate their time to these things even if they know it will one day get destroy, being so hard to work with and all. I am a really big fan of the glasses the guy is wearing though
The projects we have done so far have really given me a respect for artists and their skill. The time it must have took to make these just speaks for the devotion of the sculptor, and if I ever tried doing this it would take three times as long and look infinitely worse.
My interpretation of this sculpture is very different from Maurice's - The man's head is melting from a flame that seems to represent knowledge. Knowledge breaks things down slowly into their simplest, most abstract forms, just as the flame will inevitably melt the man into a homogenous pool of wax. To me, this piece is much more a commentary on the power and importance of thought than it is about the effects of society on our thought processes.
My interpretation of this sculpture is very different from Maurice's - The man's head is melting from a flame that seems to represent knowledge. Knowledge breaks things down slowly into their simplest, most abstract forms, just as the flame will inevitably melt the man into a homogenous pool of wax. To me, this piece is much more a commentary on the power and importance of thought than it is about the effects of society on our thought processes.
i really like how these sculptures were created to be destroyed, so to speak. the melting wax creates a very cool effect and interesting texture. experimenting with the placement of the candles and seeing where the wax drips could be very interesting.
Very interesting sculptures but I think that they're molds than actual carvings
the guy melting is a cool idea but what happens if he melts all the way? does the sculpter just make a new one
I think the first thing everyone noticed was the melting head the wax figure has. This is actually a great way of representing how the "modern man", shown by his suit jacket and pants, can suffer from a brain meltdown due to the pressures and burdens jobs put on us today. It's a cool sculpture overall and I hope it doesn't melt any further though...
The amount of detail in these sculptures is amazing. The texture is quite life like. The fact that some parts of the people are melting is quite symbolic and meaningful. I liked how Urs Fischer put so much meaning and detail into the wax sculptures.
wow, that's really cool, they're really well detailed, which makes it suck that much more that they're melting throughout the exhibition. but it would be cool to have just seen them melt until the parts just started falling off.
I think that wax was the perfect material for the structure of these scupltures. I believe this because it allowed the artist to make productive use of drips. This gives his sculptures a very surreal feel. The fact that they are normal people adds to that as well.
i really like the idea that the pieces are transient and won't be here for ever. i think it adds a special once in a life time value to them. however i am conflicted about how much he really cared about his work to just let it melt like the. i would never be able to destroy my work i love it too much and i put so much effort into it that i would not be able to. unless i did not like it. but because of the detail and the craftsmanship you can tell the artist cared about these pieces. i wonder if it hurts him a little to watch them melt
The sculptures were so realistic that it seemed that they were real people just painted a grey color. The stylistic choice of using the drip technique really caught my eye and I really enjoyed this piece.
The sculptures were so realistic that it seemed that they were real people just painted a grey color. The stylistic choice of using the drip technique really caught my eye and I really enjoyed this piece.
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