Two years ago the Swiss-born artist Urs Fischer broke ground — literally — by demolishing the floor of Gavin Brown’s gallery in New York. In the process, he transported viewers into the surreal realm of a dirt-filled excavation framed by pristine gallery walls. This month Fischer expands his creative universe: For his first large-scale solo presentation in the U.S., he is taking over the New Museum of Contemporary Art’s galleries, lobbies and stairwells, becoming the first individual artist to do so.

Fischer, who is best known for his sculpture, has in the past created a house out of bread and a giant teddy bear with its head bisected by a lamp. He exploits the paradoxical interplay of creation and destruction. In Agnes Martin, 2007-08, for instance, he hung spindly cast-foam structures resembling frayed threads around a deformed white chair, the whole suggesting loss, decay and impermanence — themes found throughout his works.

The New Museum exhibition, which curator Massimiliano Gioni calls an "introspective," features additions to Fischer’s multipart aluminum sculpture Marguerite de Ponty, 2006-08, and 50 silkscreened mirror boxes.

"Digging In" originally appeared in the October 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2009 Table of Contents.