Urs Lüthi (born 10 September 1947 in Kriens) is a Swiss conceptual artist who attended the School of Applied Arts in Zürich. Noted for using his body and alter ego as the subject of his artworks, he has worked in photography, sculpture, performance, silk-screen, video and painting.[1][2] Since 1994, Lüthi has worked as university professor in Kassel, Germany and in 2009 Kassel gave Lüthi the Arnold Bode award.

Urs Lüthi
2010 sculpted self-portrait
Born (1947-09-10) 10 September 1947 (age 77)
NationalitySwiss
EducationSchool of Applied Arts, Zürich
Known forPhotography, sculpture, performance, silk-screen, video and painting
Websitewww.ursluethi.com

Luthi and other artists of this period influenced Lou Reed. He is mentioned as an influence in Reed's Transformer album, which contains the hit drag anthem “Walk on the Wild Side”. Luthi was part of a group of Continental European artists who were interested in, and “voiced, in their work, a desire for a utopian conception of androgyny, in which they would embody a unified ambisexuality or realize a perfect union with their lover.” [3]

Luthi describes the most significant aspect of their work as "ambivalence...Objectivity is not very important to me: all is objective just as all could be subjective. Therefore, one must take reality into account and actually my awareness of the real, depending on my mood, has thousands of facets."[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Urs Lüthi". newmedia-art.org. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  2. ^ "Urs Lüthi - Art is the Better Life: kunstMeran|o arte". kunstmeranoarte.org. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  3. ^ Blessing, Jennifer (1997). Rrose is a Rrose is a Rrose: Gender Performance in Photography. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. pp. 70.
  4. ^ Contemporary artists. Muriel Emanuel (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. 1983. p. 568. ISBN 0-312-16643-5. OCLC 9154607.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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