The SCAD Museum of Art presents an exhibition by Berlin-based artist Berta Fischer. The artist creates playful moments through exuberant use of color, light and whimsical form. These shimmering sculptures represent the artist’s preoccupation with plastic and the possibilities of hard-edged formal abstraction through use of contemporary material. Installed in the street-facing Jewel Boxes on the museum’s exterior, the works provide a glossy contrast to the historic brick of the architecture, juxtaposed with the muted tones of the museum’s façade.
Berta Fischer, "Tsutu," detail, acrylic, 129" x 34" x 23". 2013. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin.
Four distinct sculptures are presented in the exhibition. These works offer viewers the chance to engage with the jewel-like color of iridescent pieces like "Derminox," which glimmers in the natural light provided by the glass case. The Jewel Boxes, situated on the side of a busy sidewalk, are a fitting location for these sculptures, as they shift and change their color and value as viewers walk past them. Works like "Tsutu" and "Owlix," snake and reverberate vertically. In "Chilastik," a simple action of punching holes into — and forming waves — in sheets of shimmering red plastic creates a permeable curtain. Despite the rigid nature of her material, Fischer is able to infuse the sculptures with an energetic, animated quality.
This exhibition is part of SCAD deFINE ART 2019, held Feb. 26–28 at university locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia.
Fischer has had solo presentations at Galerie Karin Guenther, Hamburg, Germany; Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany; James Fuentes at the Armory Show, New York, New York; Oldenburger Kunstverein, Oldenburg, Germany; Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark; and Galerie Giti Nourbakhsh, Berlin. She also has participated in group shows internationally. She attended Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Karlsruhe, Germany. She lives and works in Berlin.