Overkill - Urs Frei
10.09.2021 - 29.09.2021
Urs Frei (b. 1958) lives and works in Zürich. He has exhibited in in Kunsthaus Zü- rich, Kunsthalle Zürich, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Kunstverein Hamburg, Seces- sion, Vienna, ETH Zürich, Kunsthalle Lucerne, Venice Biennale, San Stae Venice and Evidently Chickentown, Zurich among many others.
Urs Frei’s works, produced in series, refer to an artistic strategy that follows on from late 1960s post-minimalism. One formal connection results in another; playfully, one work merges into the next. Seen as a whole, this concatenation becomes apparent when the viewer moves among what appear to be accumulations of materials randomly distributed throughout a space. This open structure is apparent both in the conglomerate works themselves and in their quality of crossing the boundaries between the genres of sculpture, painting and installation.
The artist’s early works on walls and floors were initially created from wood: boards, blocks and frames were made into objects revealing traces of cement or filler. Remi- niscent of architectural forms, they were usually positioned programmatically where walls and floors meet. In the 1980s, Frei used more elements from the urban, material world, both new and used: cardboard rolls, plastic buckets, cloths and other elements were piled, bundled or arranged in rows, and painted as heterogeneous objects. Their ambivalent character becomes even more apparent in juxtaposition with space. Open for associative interpretation, these works frequently make reference to organic forms. From 1990 onwards, more consistent wall objects have been made from cloth bags. The plump, stuffed, cushion-like volumes are painted in different ways; the cords tied around them delineate fields of colour and produce a variety of forms. In 1994, a new series of works appeared in the form of conglomerates consisting of boards and rods, reminiscent of both oversized, painted demonstration panels and pictures on easels. Since 1996, drawings and sketches also explore the characteristics of space. After 2000, Frei turned increasingly to painting, often using amorphously shaped, flat supports; linear, colourful forms and expressive gestures are given equal weight.
The formal balance achieved by stacking or leaning the individual components of a work against each other again comes into play in terms of crossing the boundaries
of genres: the loosely composed, painted sculptures mutate into extraordinary picture supports. Saturated, usually very bright colour, attains a tactile quality and tends to as- sume the character of an object in its own right. The overall ambivalence of Urs Frei’s work challenges the viewer to ask questions about the role and definition of art: the categorisation of genres, contextualisation and the participation of the viewer are central themes, although there is also always a poetical dimension to our encounters with these playful bricolages.
This project was realized with the generous support of
Overkill - Urs Frei
10.09.2021 - 29.09.2021
Urs Frei (b. 1958) lives and works in Zürich. He has exhibited in in Kunsthaus Zü- rich, Kunsthalle Zürich, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Kunstverein Hamburg, Seces- sion, Vienna, ETH Zürich, Kunsthalle Lucerne, Venice Biennale, San Stae Venice and Evidently Chickentown, Zurich among many others.
Urs Frei’s works, produced in series, refer to an artistic strategy that follows on from late 1960s post-minimalism. One formal connection results in another; playfully, one work merges into the next. Seen as a whole, this concatenation becomes apparent when the viewer moves among what appear to be accumulations of materials randomly distributed throughout a space. This open structure is apparent both in the conglomerate works themselves and in their quality of crossing the boundaries between the genres of sculpture, painting and installation.
The artist’s early works on walls and floors were initially created from wood: boards, blocks and frames were made into objects revealing traces of cement or filler. Remi- niscent of architectural forms, they were usually positioned programmatically where walls and floors meet. In the 1980s, Frei used more elements from the urban, material world, both new and used: cardboard rolls, plastic buckets, cloths and other elements were piled, bundled or arranged in rows, and painted as heterogeneous objects. Their ambivalent character becomes even more apparent in juxtaposition with space. Open for associative interpretation, these works frequently make reference to organic forms. From 1990 onwards, more consistent wall objects have been made from cloth bags. The plump, stuffed, cushion-like volumes are painted in different ways; the cords tied around them delineate fields of colour and produce a variety of forms. In 1994, a new series of works appeared in the form of conglomerates consisting of boards and rods, reminiscent of both oversized, painted demonstration panels and pictures on easels. Since 1996, drawings and sketches also explore the characteristics of space. After 2000, Frei turned increasingly to painting, often using amorphously shaped, flat supports; linear, colourful forms and expressive gestures are given equal weight.
The formal balance achieved by stacking or leaning the individual components of a work against each other again comes into play in terms of crossing the boundaries
of genres: the loosely composed, painted sculptures mutate into extraordinary picture supports. Saturated, usually very bright colour, attains a tactile quality and tends to as- sume the character of an object in its own right. The overall ambivalence of Urs Frei’s work challenges the viewer to ask questions about the role and definition of art: the categorisation of genres, contextualisation and the participation of the viewer are central themes, although there is also always a poetical dimension to our encounters with these playful bricolages.
This project was realized with the generous support of