ZURICH.- Galerie Eva Presenhuber is presenting a series of exhibitions in its 3e 閠age showroom at Waldmannstrasse in Zurich. This second exhibition showcases photographic works by Doug Aitken, Peter Fischli David Weiss, Candida H鰂er, and Torbj鴕n R鴇land. The exhibition is complemented by a unique furniture piece by Franz West.
Beginning in the 1990s, artist and filmmaker Doug Aitken (b. 1968 in Redondo Beach, CA, US) has developed a boundary-defying multimedia oeuvre that both studies and leads into new art forms. Integrating film, sound, photography, sculpture, performance, happenings, and site-specific installations, Aitken’s immersive multimedia landscapes disrupt the conventions of the contemporary art world.
Peter Fischli (b. 1952 in Zurich, CH) and the late David Weiss (1946 – 2012 in Zurich, CH) began collaborating in 1979 and created a significant body of work, which combined, rearranged, and even manipulated their daily experiences into something new and unexpected. Employing various media, including unfired clay, rubber, photography, and video, Fischli Weiss managed to playfully fuse the two ends of high and low art during their three decades of collaboration.
Geographical references are an inherent part of Candida H鰂er’s (b. 1944 in Eberswalde, DE) extensive œuvre. For more than 40 years, the artist has photographed the interiors of buildings, most accessible to the public, at times private ones as well, that are readily identifiable. Among them are museums, libraries, foyers, concert halls, bank archives, stages, and train station waiting rooms. H鰂er’s interest is not in mere documentation; what drives her work is the differentiation of complex image subjects, the issue of light, and how spaces and architecture influence people.
Torbj鴕n R鴇land’s (b. 1970 in Stavanger, NO) images are not created—and thus cannot be read—according to a single interpretive framework. They are dependent upon a willingness to wrestle with the diversity of life as a constantly evolving system of physical phenomena, emotional reaction, and cultural exchange. Sex and religion, tenderness and vulgarity, art and pop culture, intuition and intellect: they all commingle in R鴇land’s work. Together, they create a world in which photography manages that which art is at its best: a game involving imagination, memory, and association that better captures our time than any other form of documentation.
Franz West (1946–2012 in Vienna, AT) was an internationally renowned sculptor who is considered one of the most influential artists of the past 50 years. He began to develop his works in the 1970s, centered around sculpture but also including drawing and collage. From the 1980s, West focused on art as something to use and communicate with by inventing the Passst點ke—Adaptives. These are sculptures that can be touched and worn by the viewer, situating themselves somewhere in between a trap and a supporting device. West referred to them as incarnations of neurosis. In the following years, West produced a significant oeuvre of sculptures made of plaster and Papier-m鈉h, furniture, collages, and large-scale sculptures, which were often intended for public spaces.
