Urs Fischer Tongues NYC and Other Wild Opticals

City Mag’s Julie Ragolia demonstrates “the TONGUE”

(**All video, text, and photos by Susan M. Kirschbaum)

Urs Fischer  first took over my senses like a demon lover  a couple years ago at the Deste Foundation in Athens Greece, when I walked into a bread house he constructed. No witch was present but I might as well have been Little Red Riding Hood entering the story, possibly a nightmare. The museum assistants kept having to tap the local bakery to replenish the walls. That tickled me then and now, last night, this same joker, Swiss born Fischer, overtook all three floors of the New Museum on the Bowery. On the first, he attached all kinds of images, like Balenciaga shoes, a giant organic pear, the Empire State building, Rodin’s lovers, on blocked mirrors. The resulting optical illusion, so many different structures and objects of various sizes formed their own little city. It felt like every dream I’ve ever had colliding in one room. The second floor’s main feature centered around a tongue that jutted out of a wall hole (see video above.) GOTCHA! Plus Fischer took an actual piano and cast it so it morphed into a melting Dr. Seuss like object, a goth cartoony instrument. On the third and top floor, we encountered the Fischer boulders, giant aluminum like structures that started as small clay sculptures that he later expanded.We could have been exploring a new planet, given the space age effect. Stanley Kubrick would have approved.  In the corner, the requisite Fischer skeleton hunched over boxes, which actually had been molded from clay as well, but resembled cardboard from every angle.   What a fabulous mind fuck.

Urs Fischer Marguerite de Ponty exhibit, at the New Museum, 235 Bowery, October 29th- February 14, 2010 ** For those on the fashion tip, Urs Fischer silk scarves will be sold in limited edition at the New Museum store, $350; check out visual by hitting “MORE” line below.

Shop girl holds up Urs Fischer silk scarf, $350