'Artwork is brutal for so many people. They let it happen to them, but it’s brutal. I like the idea of an artist as somebody who works.' - Urs Fischer

Through his far-reaching interventions and complex creations that defy categorisation, Urs Fischer has established himself as one of the most influential artists of his time. Drawing on Marcel Duchamp’s profound notion of the readymade, the present work, executed almost a century after the Dada artist’s experimentations, is exemplary of Fischer’s imitable ability to transform everyday objects into dimensional compositions.

Inherently contradictory, Chagall transforms an object of apparent stability into a vulnerable and non-functional object. The wooden plank supported by a life-size ladder appears robust, however, the sculpture is carved from polyurethane foam and is further undermined by the motorised propeller affixed to the plank which causes the work to shake. Through the mobile structure, Fischer deceives our perception, questioning our fundamental understanding of physics and transforming it in to a poetical device.

A nod to Marc Chagall’s painterly concern with the biblical Jacob’s Ladder, in Chagall the central structure extends toward heaven, evoking the holy symbol of transcendence. Elucidating his fascination with uncovering the influences of fellow artist’s Fischer notes ‘I did not know what to do with Chagall, I never connected’ (‘Urs Fischer’, Alaine L Kann Interviews, New York, 1 February 2015, online). Characteristically interrogating the endless possibilities of materials and objects, Fischer instils the present work with material, symbolic and kinetic dimensionality.