(Essen, Germany, 1956)
Sculptor with forays into sound art and the design of ideal architectural spaces. He studied History and Art History at the University of Münster. From 2001 to 2010 she was professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Münster. She is a professor of Sculpture at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. The theme of his work revolves around popular culture – from which he took a large part of his iconography –, the problems posed by the public exhibition of art, the experience that the visitor perceives from this, and the tension that is established between the visual appearance of art and its ultimate message. In its technique there is a combination of artisanal handling, direct manual contact with the material, and industrial production. In the mid-eighties, Fritsch began to carry out sculptural projects designed for a specific environment, such as Elefant (1987), a piece exhibited in the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, which gave him great notoriety. From then on, his works have gained in symbolic density and monumentality. He represents shapes and animals and human beings with overwhelming thoroughness and then dyes them in unlikely colors, playing with the familiar and the surreal or strange. His most recognized works are Rattenkönig/Rat King (1993): a circle of giant black polyester rats, Hahn/Gallina (2010): a blue chicken measuring more than 4 meters. He represented Germany at the 46th Venice Biennale and has exhibited, among others, at the Art Institute of Chicago (2012); Kunsthaus Zurich and the Deichtorhallen Hamburg (2009); White Cube, London (2006); Tate Modern, London (2001); Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel (1997), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1996) and Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1993).
The image of his installation "Tischgesellschaft" (Company at Table) 1988 is part of the publication banquet_03.
banquet_metabolism and communication