Erwin Wurm: de Profundis

The popular Austrian artist Erwin Wurm (born 1954) established himself years ago on the international art scene with his "One Minute Sculptures"--photographs of people, often contorted, in staged, absurdist situations--and his comical sculptures that distort familiar objects, such as the "Fat Car." In 2011, his "Narrow House," a miniature version of his parents' house in Austria, squeezed down to a sixth of its normal size and a width of six feet, was a big hit with visitors to the Venice Biennial. At the heart of his latest monograph is an as-yet unfinished group of works on a new theme titled "De Profundis." In a range of media (including drawings), Wurm combines twenty-first-century representations of the body with the Gothic vocabulary of religious asceticism and abnegation.