Vignettes comprises a new series of small-scale bronzes, each a world unto itself. The works arepositioned on the gallery floor, as if just left there – abandoned like a child's toys. Their scale is childlike too,transforming Aird's Lane into a seemingly vast universe populated by animals, plants, household objects andfruit.
Some of Fischer's poetic scenes have fantastical origins, emerging from dreams or else coincidences of theirproduction in the studio, while others developed from quotidian or domestic moments – the odd collisionsand combinations that happen in life. One approach that links them together is their unlikely combining oftwo objects, often in divergent styles. Amongst the pieces are a quixotic Playmobil knight with a mishappencompanion, a metal rose held by a rough-hewn humanoid, and a snake curled around a plain chair. Shiftingstates, and various forms of growth and decay, thread through these various tchotchke-like sculptures whichcommune around a centrally placed miniature Murano glass chandelier.
There is a humour to the required engagement with the exhibition. With everything installed at ground level,viewers must look down or bend over to take in the works. They aren't on plinths being presented as moralexemplars, like a public monument. Key to Fischer's practice is a questioning of hierarchies – our relationshipto 'the real' and the everyday, the permanent and impermanent, the serious and whimsical. In utilisingbronze in this series, what initially appears fanciful and impermanent has in fact been built to last, forming a keyelement of the show's antic atmosphere.
With a practice spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and fashion, Swiss-born artist Urs Fischer produces provocative artworks and installations that subvert the zeitgeist of contemporary pop culture.
The Modern Institute was founded in Glasgow in 1997. The gallery works with internationally established and emerging artists including Martin Boyce, Jim Lambie, Richard Wright, Anne Collier, Cathy Wilkes, Simon Starling, Urs Fischer, Luke Fowler and Nicolas Party.
