Gagosian Paris presents new Urs Fischer and Spencer Sweeney exhibitions
Paris is burning. Urs Fischer lit up the City of Lights on Monday night with his wax candle sculpture titled Leo (George & Irmelin) depicting Leonardo DiCaprio and his parents cast entirely in wax. The artist lit Leo on fire at the Gagosian Gallery where his daring display of modern art will continue to melt through December 20th. As black wax dripped down wax Leo’s shirt and chest, a melting pot of notable non-wax figures including Derek Blasberg, Jean Pigozzi and Sarah Andelman toasted the ephemeral piece with cocktails, conversation and of course a few Instagram-worthy photos. Leonardo DiCaprio, known for melting hearts across the world, is now literally melting. The sculpture will continue to drip slowly over the course of the exhibition so get it while it’s quite literally hot, but Gagosian promises that the disappearing act will be a work of art unto itself as the portrait is “transmuted into a form dictated by the wayward laws of physics.” And because two Leos are better than one, the sculpture features a double angle of the actor and environmentalist where he is simultaneously gesturing to his father and embracing his mother. Urs Fischer is a Swiss-born, NYC-based artist known for his playful and often provocative installations like turning Katy Perry into malleable clay or creating a life-sized cabin made of loaves of bread. The ephemeral sculpture that’s been the talk of the town as FIAC week gets underway is Fischer’s visible meditation on the passing of time designed to remind viewers of the transience of life, beauty and art itself. While guests and the Art world had their eyes on the melting DiCaprio clan, many ventured upstairs to Gagosian’s project space to see Spencer Sweeney’s latest work “Smalls.”
