Erwin Wurm

A fat house, a distorted truck and a stuffed sausage dog that appears to have swallowed a brick, all form part of a new show opening at BALTIC on 5 July. The exhibition is by one of Austria’s leading artists - Erwin Wurm.

Embracing the absurd, Wurm invites us to consider different possibilities. He creates a distance between us and the everyday, asking for a re-examination of the world we inhabit and everyday things we take for granted. He plays with perception, and on upsetting established meanings. Familiar objects overcome materiality and utility to become emblematic and free ranging in their possible significance and use.

Looking beyond the ‘one minute sculptures’ for which he is most widely known, BALTIC presents works made in the last few years from 2003-2006. New works in the show are Dog (2006) - a stuffed, life size sausage dog which appears to have swallowed a brick; The artist who swallowed the world (2006) - a life size figure of the artist who appears to have swallowed the world and The artist who swallowed the world when it was still a disc (2006) - a similar figure of the artist who appears to have swallowed the world when it was still a disc.

Fat House (2003), a large-scale sculpture on display outside BALTIC on Baltic Square has its first UK showing. Inside the house a video piece entitled Am I a House? (2005), is the actual voice of the house asking itself a series of poignant questions. Truck (2005), a real delivery truck with its back curled up and fixed to the wall of BALTIC’s Level 2 gallery space is also presented for the first time in the UK.

Wurm uses a diversity of media, from video to drawings and photographs but describes himself as a sculptor. His main interest lies in the exploration of the idea of sculpture and he has been preoccupied with expanding the concept of the medium since the 1980s. He was trained as a sculptor and quickly developed an interest in everyday objects and what makes an object into sculpture. The works on show at BALTIC reflect social values and tendencies within an interrogation of sculptural possibility.

Erwin Wurm was born in Bruck an de Mur, Austria in 1954. He lives and works in Vienna where he has been teaching at the University of Applied Arts since 2002. His has exhibited internationally including at the Drawing Center in New York, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, MOMA in New York, Lyon Biennale (2000 and 2005) and the 49th Venice Biennale.

This exhibition is Erwin Wurm’s second solo exhibition in the UK. He has previously shown at the Photographers’ Gallery in London where his ‘One minute sculptures’ series were exhibited in 2000.

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Erwin Wurm
New Sculpture