Urs Fischer: Dasha

Swiss-born conceptual artist, Urs Fischer opens his new exhibition at Gagosian with a sculpted waxwork candle, depicting his friend and founder of Garage Magazine, Dasha Zhucova in larger-than-life-size. As Dasha sits alone in the gallery, she is slowly melting away, and will eventually resolve into a pile of wax drippings on the floor. With this, Fischer brings to our attention the transient characteristics of life; using the materiality of a familiar household object, he allows us to indulge in the waxworks deterioration while being faced with the stark gaze of Dasha through the glass window.

The ability to create, and then destroy is a familiar concept in Fischer’s work, exploring impermanent materials and spontaneity, inside and outside of the gallery. In 2007 he famously dug an 8-foot deep crater, titled You into the foundations of the Gavin Brown’s Enterprise gallery in New York, deconstructing our notion of the gallery space.

Fischer has honed the skill of waxwork making, beginning with nude figures in 2000, and now producing works that burn for months. Dasha will melt for the course of the exhibition until its conclusion in November.