 Urs Frei In his exhibition, Urs Frei presents a new group of works. The transition between genres has always been a central theme of his work – a continual traversing of the boundaries between painting, sculpture and relief. Now a new moment becomes visible: Frei concentrates more strongly on the wall, on the two-dimensional painting in the classical sense. These works on paper and canvas are closely related to his previous sculptural work. Intermeshing forms are suggestive of the tubes, long steles and sacks that have emerged again and again in Frei’s work. The methods with which Urs Frei works remain coincidental and robust, yet at the same time reveal care and perfection down to the last detail. Simplicity and complexity intersect in the pieces, but the result is surprisingly ornamental. The three-dimensional works, however, remain a theme: in a long series of processes in which Urs Frei repeatedly destroys and reworks much of the material, he has joined together relief-like steles, wooden banners, into wheel-like wall reliefs. They are static, hanging motionless on the wall, and yet produce an almost violent effect. The massive slats are nailed together with thick nails, the affixed pieces of wood, neither painting nor sculpture, are irregularly sawed off – like remains. Although they are stationary, they give the impression of an aggressively spinning windwheel. The works by Urs Frei are subject to a perpetual process: they are painted over, dismantled, reassembled or simply destroyed. These steps are documented by Frei through photographs, allowing the process of production to be tracked. In this panoramic view of his artistic world, few individual snapshots turn up from the artist’s apartment or from a vacation. These photos will also be on view in the exhibition. Urs Frei, born in Zurich in 1958, lives and works in Zurich. His works have been exhibited in numerous locations both within Switzerland and internationally, including the Biennale in Venice (Church of San Staë), the Vienna Secession, the Kunsthalle Zurich, the Kunstverein Hamburg, and the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne. August 26 – October 21, 2000 Hours: Tuesday – Friday 12:00 – 6:00 pm Saturday 11:00 am – 4:00 pm Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber Limmatstrasse 270 8005 Zürich phone: 01-446 80 60 fax: 01-446 80 65 www.ghwp.ch |
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