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For our end of year presentation, Hauser & Wirth Zürich invites you to explore ‘SALON D’HIVER’. Transforming the second floor of the gallery into a winter themed display, the salon celebrates the upcoming holiday season by bringing together a curated selection of works by modern and contemporary masters from the gallery’s roster, complete with a bar installation by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist.
A festive highlight of the salon is Rodney Graham’s lightbox ‘Media Studies ’77 (Meet Me in St. Louis)’ (2017), picturing a television set with a still of Judy Garland from Vincente Minelli’s film ‘Meet me in St. Louis’ (1944). The film is known for featuring the famous Christmas song ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, sung by a young Garland. Graham’s signature photographic lightbox works are allegorical and witty compositions used to explore scenarios from our collective cultural memory. In the sculpture ‘Santa (with Butt Plug) Carbon Fiber’ (2004) by Paul McCarthy, the artist takes the beloved Christmas icon Santa Claus and embraces debauchery and desire, colliding our most cherished societal myths with our fundamental impulses.
In addition to the portrayal of cultural figures, winter landscapes and snowy activities are explored in a number of works in the ‘SALON D’HIVER’. The painting ‘Traces of Disappearance’ (2016-2018) by Rita Ackermann depicts her brother skiing, whose figure is abstracted through a twilight snowstorm. Maria Lassnig also plays with the skiing figure in her painting ‘2 Figuren im Schnee / Schifahrer (2 Figures in the Snow / Skier)’ (c. 1995-2002). After watching skiers on television, the artist became just as fascinated by their bodies in motion as by the mythology of the sport. In this work, the canvas is a snow-covered slope down which the skiers glide.
Also on view at the salon are astounding works by artists such as Lorna Simpson, David Zink Yi, Jenny Holzer, Takesada Matsutani, Günther Förg, and Stefan Brüggemann, amongst many others. The presentation coincides with a Christmas pop up at Hauser & Wirth Publishers HQ, featuring a festive selection of books and gifts for the holiday season.
