Morgan Fisher: Films and Paintings and In Between and Nearby
24 February to 24 April 2011
This exhibition is the first to survey over forty years of the work of Morgan Fisher (born 1942, lives in Los Angeles). It is organised around the two major areas of Fisher’s work: his films – for which he first became known in the late sixties – and his work in painting, which began in the early nineties. The exhibition also includes installation work in film, painting and architecture, as well as video, photographs and works on paper.
Fisher’s films, usually grouped with the structuralist movement, explore their own means of production, examining the conventions that underlie film to generate radical new forms. His work in painting continues this strategy, examining the unspoken assumptions that have governed painting to create works that are no less radical.
The exhibition includes four of his celebrated 16mm films, as well as Color Balance (1980), a three-projector installation. Two rare works for monitors are also shown, one for the first time. The exhibition includes a range of Fisher’s other work, from his late-sixties spray-painted and Pepsi Case works to new paintings, painting installations and an architectural installation all made in response to the architecture of Raven Row.
Morgan Fisher made his first film in 1968, and his most recent in 2003. He began showing paintings and related work in galleries in the early nineties, and is currently represented by Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, and China Art Objects Galleries, Los Angeles. In 2005 a survey of his films curated by Chrissie Iles, travelled from The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, to Tate Modern, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. His exhibition at Portikus, Frankfurt, in 2009 was a site-specific architectural installation that occupied the entire space.
The exhibition is curated by Alex Sainsbury. New essays by Christophe Gallois, Head of Exhibitions at Mudam, Luxembourg, and Stuart Comer, Curator of Film at Tate Modern accompany the exhibition.
Selected texts
Events
The Times Atlas of the World, Mid-Century Edition, 2011
Painting installation. Emulsion on wall and on MDF panels
Overall dimensions 197 x 516 cm; five relief panels each 178.5 x 91.5 cm
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Standard Gauge, 1984
16mm. Colour, sound. 35 minutes
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
( ), 2003
16mm. Colour/black and white, silent (24 frames
per second). 21 minutes
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Red Boxing Gloves / Orange Kitchen Gloves, 1980
Polaroid photographs. Two parts; each 63 x 70 cm
Collection of Wolfgang Tillmans
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view, Raven Row, 2011
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Wedge Piece, 2011
H Piece, 2002
Collection de Bruin-Heijn, The Netherlands
H Piece, 2002
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Pepsi Case, 1968
Blueprint
84.2 x 118 cm
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
The Wilkinson Household Fire Alarm, 1973
16mm. Colour, sound. 1 minute 30 seconds
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Sawdust Painting, 1999
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Edge and Corner Painting, 2011
Self-Portrait, 1994/2011
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Stairwell Piece, 2011
Emulsion on plywood
Two parts; 68 x 39 cm, 67 x 36.5 cm
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Untitled, 1968
Paper tape on paper
21.8 x 28 cm
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Untitled, 1968
Pencil and coloured pencil on paper
21.6 x 27.9 cm
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
SMPTE Head Leader Shuttle, 1972
Typewriter on paper
21.6 x 27.9 cm
Collection de Bruin-Heijn, The Netherlands
Film Cans and Film Boxes, 1968
Spray paint on paper
46 x 61 cm
Collection of Daniel Buchholz and Christopher Müller, Cologne
Production Stills, 1970
16mm. Colour, sound. 11 minutes
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Protective Coloration, 1979
3/4" video transferred to DVD
Still
Untitled, 1968
Silkscreen on paper
45 x 59.5 cm
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Exhibition view, Raven Row
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Red/Cyan Back and Forth Paintings, 2011
Green/Magenta Back and Forth Paintings, 2011
Blue/Yellow Back and Forth Paintings, 2011
Acrylic on canvas
Two parts; each 45.2 x 61.8 cm
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Color Balance, 1980 (reconstruction 2002)
Film installation, 3 x 16mm.
Colour, silent (24 frames per second). Loops
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Red Boxing Gloves / Orange Kitchen Gloves, 1980
Drawing for Southern Exposure, 1977
Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith