Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy's Surrealist Paintings Displayed in a Desolate NYC Scene
Urs Fischer’s immersive wallpaper installation breathes new life into the iconic works.
New York City’s Nahmad Contemporary is currently hosting an exhibition titled “SUPERUNKNOWN” featuring iconic paintings by the surrealist masters, Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy, set against an immersive wallpaper installation by the Swiss contemporary visual artist Urs Fischer.
The gallery is showing several of Ernst’s compositions that the German artist made in the wake of the first World War. From dimly lit landscapes to otherworldly figurations, Ernst’s works introduce a sense of uneasiness and foreboding. On the contrary, Tanguy’s pieces are filled with biomorphic forms imposed on eerie-looking environments that reflect the artist’s firsthand experiences of the rise of communism and fascism in Europe. The artists’ anxiety-inducing works are only heightened by Fischer’s Gap-toothed City installation that is placed across the gallery’s walls. The sprawling work is comprised of enlarged photographs of a desolate New York City that is abound with metal fences, graffiti and boarded lots.
“Presenting the mysterious, visual languages of Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy in a new light alongside the contemporary perspective of Urs Fischer, ‘SUPERUNKNOWN’ captures creative expression in the throes of unrest and unearths through the haze of darkness an eccentric, fantastical beauty,” said the gallery in a statement.
Check out installation views for “SUPERUNKNOWN” in the slideshow above and then visit Nahmad Contemporary’s website for more information. The show is on view until November 5.
Elsewhere in art, Pace Gallery is displaying Jean Dubuffet’s monolithic Le cirque installation.
Nahmad Contemporary
980 Madison Ave, Third Floor
New York, NY 10075
