In 1999, R.M. Fischer was developing what could have been his most complex public art work, a new flight tower for the Miami International Airport, then September 11th happened. It seems fitting to bring Fischer back to Miami amid our current political moment, also fitting to know that both then and now Fischer’s work was functioning as a measure of guidance. Then, as a flight tower, today, as a series of shaman-like creatures, existing practically as lights, but spiritually as morphed sculptural bodies that lead and question the viewer.
For Lampworks, Fischer has returned to creating light sculptures, the subject which originally brought his work attention in the 1980’s. The new sculptures pull from decades of working as designer, sculptor, architect and social mediator. Mechano-like metal support structures form the basis of each lamp, around which Fischer wraps, bolts, sews and stretches their vinyl and fabric skins. The elegant, playful skins obscure the more menacing architectural bases in a balance typically only present in the work of artists whose practice has known the rise and fall of currencies, climates and hopes. Pulling from the darkness, but not relinquishing hope, humor or the ability to survive. In a 2014 New York Times review, Roberta Smith said of Fischer, "Mr. Fischer will not be stopped. He will consume his earlier career to keep making art.” On view will be two earlier drawings along with several new light sculptures.
About R.M. Fischer
This will be R.M. Fischer’s first solo exhibition in Miami. Fischer’s works are in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Jewish Museum, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Dallas Museum, the Museo Tamayo, the Broad Foundation, the Rubell Family Collection, the Carnegie Museum of Fine Art and various other public collections around the world. He most recently was featured in Midtown, a group exhibition co-organized by Maccarone and Salon 94 Design.
About Nina Johnson
Nina Johnson is a contemporary art space in Miami, Florida. Opened as Gallery Diet in 2007, the gallery has produced exhibitions by emerging and established artists from around the world.
