KIM FISHER

Fisher’s forms first emerge as collages and drawings, responses to photographs taken by the artist or else shapes from remembered and imagined places. In this new body of work, Fisher responds to these ideas with the construction of stucco and concrete surfaces which she then casts in aqua resin from latex moulds. These are then painted and mounted on supports covered in linen stretched on the bias and hand-dyed by Fisher. Notably, the pieces incorporate less photographic material than previous bodies of work – which employed airbrush painting on laser-cut aluminium to mimic the images and tears of magazine pages and other ephemera – but continue to explore the disorienting effects of urban space, its colours, textures, and images.

There are repeated hues and silhouettes across the works, creating a series of echoes and relationships in the space. The variety of cast profiles recall innumerable things: the side of a stuccoed building; the blue-pink gradient of the sky reflected in the still waters of a swimming pool; the outline of a blouse or t-shirt; a meandering section of deserted road; a mountain view with bits of pollen and dust tumbling through the air. The stucco, although common on walls, takes on an unfamiliar and compelling quality under Fisher’s handling. The shapes are not placed centrally or contained by their linen grounds, instead they are offset and spill over the edges – uncontainable and evocative snippets of information.

Kim Fisher (b. 1973, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA) lives and works in Los Angeles. Selected solo exhibitions include: ‘Wrong Number’(with Florian Morlat), Gattopardo, Los Angeles (2023); ‘Kim Fisher’, The Modern Institute, Osborne Street, Glasgow (2018); LAXART, LA (2016); ‘Dirty Kitchen’, The Modern Institute, Aird’s Lane, Glasgow (2014); ‘Angus’, International Art Objects, Los Angeles (2013); John Connelly Presents, New York (2010); China Art Objects, Los Angeles (2007); and Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2003). Selected group shows include ‘Joan Didion: What She Means’, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2022), curated by Hilton Als, and ‘This Brush for Hire: Norm Laich & Many Other Artists’, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018), co-curated by Meg Cranston & John Baldessari. In 2014, the artist participated in Hammer Museum’s ‘Made in LA’ group show, curated by curated by Michael Ned Holte and Connie Butler. Fisher presented work in the California Biennale and Whitney Biennale (both 2004). Fisher also exhibited as part of: ‘Painting in Place’, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Los Angeles (2013); ‘Chasm of the Supernova’, Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, Los Angeles (2012); and ‘California Abstract Painting 1962-2012’, Woodbury University, Burbank (2012).