Peter Fischli

Cans, Bags & Boxes, which closely resembles a show done last year in Los Angeles, is Peter Fischli’s first at Reena Spaulings Fine Art. This exhibition consists of 33 sculptures and two lithographic prints.

All sculptures were made between 2016 and 2018. The smallest of these measures 12 cm X 8 cm X 13 cm and the largest is 112 cm X 112 cm X 121 cm. The tallest sculpture is 112.5 cm high. The pedestals range in size from 34 cm X 34 cm X 49.5 cm to 120 cm X 120 cm X 60 cm.

All sculptures and pedestals are made of cardboard, then concealed with newspaper (Neue Zürcher Zeitung 1914, Neue Presse 1967/68, Migros Zeitung 2016/17) and construction paper. All sculptures are untitled, although some have “studio titles“ or nicknames.

Two different types of glue have been used: wallpaper glue and white wood glue. All sculptures and pedestals have been painted first with a mixture of indoor emulsion paint and champagne chalk. Additional layers of color were applied using acrylic, silicate paint, gouache, enamel and faux-rust, and in this way a variety of surface effects, patinas and sculptural looks have been achieved. The sculptures were produced with the assistance of Bernhard Hegglin. The pedestals were created and executed with the help of Jason Klimatsas.

Some of the sculptures are based on a memory of artworks made for a movie shot in Los Angeles in 1981. One could say: the better the prop, the closer we come to the real possibility of sculpture. And: the more convincing the sculpture, the more likely that an artist is there too.

The lithographs (one of which has been overpainted by Daniel Murnaghen) is based on a detail of a jungle-themed watercolor made by Peter Fischli at age eleven.