Open House: The Modern Institute at Jessica Silverman Gallery
Open House: The Modern Institute at Jessica Silverman Gallery
Opening reception: January 8, 6-8pm
Jessica Silverman Gallery is pleased to present, OPEN HOUSE, a curated exhibition featuring thirteen artists from the roster of Glasgow’s The Modern Institute. The title of the exhibition comes from a work by Scottish artist Scott Myles, who screen-printed the text ‘OPEN HOUSE’ on The Modern Institute’s Aird’s Lane gallery office door, removed it from its original frame and re-installed it on the gallery wall as part of his 2017 solo show. For the duration of the exhibition, Myles relocated his studio to the gallery, using it as site for simultaneous display of production and presentation. Like Myles’ work, OPEN HOUSE represents the portal/threshold by which works pass from the site of their creation into the wider world.
Painted directly on the inside of Jessica Silverman Gallery’s windows is a new site-specific mural by Nicolas Party, which marks the threshold into the interior of OPEN HOUSE — a space that destabilizes the distinctions between process and presentation. Richard Wright’s installation, for example, is based on the table in his own studio and lays out several paintings on paper, accompanying books and notations. The overlaps in topics and points of interest are drawn out slowly; the interconnections between the pieces allow us to have an insight into Wright’s personal blurring of research and completion.
OPEN HOUSE also contemplates the domestic, suggesting a distorted interior scene with works such as Martin Boyce’s Last Hours of Evening Light, a sculpture that prompts us to consider it as an estranged double of a fireplace. Taking inspiration from Italian architects Carlo Scarpa and Carlo Mollino, Boyce’s fireplace plays with our sense of space and draws viewers into a surreal landscape.
Extending this theme and bridging the gap between art and design, the exhibition also includes functional chairs by Italian designer Martino Gamper. These pieces rework two classic stackable chair designs – the Air Chair and the Monobloc garden chair to create strongly graphic, hybridized forms, which encourage social interaction.
Also featured is Luke Fowler’s new film Country Grammar (with Sue Tompkins). Working through a process of discussion, filming and recording together, Fowler’s film re-frames Tompkins’ 2003 performance Country Grammar, her first work performed within a gallery context. The viewer is shown glimpses of the quiet environments that inform Sue’s practice alongside her dynamic and vocally intense approach to performance.
Through these works and others, OPEN HOUSE echoes this gesture of openness and exchange, creating a space that oscillates between public and private, psychological and social and opens up a dialogue between the two galleries and their respective cities.
The Modern Institute was founded in 1997 as a production and research gallery with the aim to bring international contemporary art to Glasgow alongside promoting Glasgow based artists around the world. It currently has two exhibition spaces on the east side of the city, the first in a converted bathhouse and the second in a former glass factory. The gallery works with 45 artists and regularly curates projects internationally as well as publishing artist publications and monographs.
Jessica Silverman Gallery was founded in 2008. The gallery is known for discovering emergent artists whatever their age and bringing them to an international audience. It has a strong concept-driven roster that embraces all artistic media. This exhibition marks a continuing tradition of collaborative exhibition-making. In 2016, Mexico City-based kurimanzutto traveled their program to San Francisco for the exhibition “from here to there.” Jessica Silverman also curates “fused,” a gallery hosted by industrial designer Yves Behar in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill.
- Installation view
- Installation view
- Installation view
- Installation view
- Installation view
-
Martin Boyce
Last Hours of Evening Light, 2015
Painted aluminum, cement fondue, painted and stained steel, brass wire
35.4 x 45.7 x 18.5 inches / 90 x 116 x 47 cm
-
Martin Boyce
Untitled, 2014
Steel, painted steel
59 x 63 x 59 inches / 149.9 x 160 x 149.9 cm
- Alternate view
-
Martin Boyce
Untitled, 2017
Concrete and stainless steel
28 x 53 x 99.5 inches / 71.1 x 134.6 x 252.7 cm
-
Anne Collier
Woman Crying #13, 2017
C-print
35.2 x 53 inches / 89.5 x 134.6 cm
-
Luke Fowler
GHIRRI, 2015
Group of 12 C-prints
Each: 10.2 x 14.2 inches / 26 x 36 cm
Overall: 47.2 x 68.9 inches / 120 x 175 cm
-
Jim Lambie
England’s Dreaming, 2011
Collage with oil painting and printed paper
Framed: 73.2 x 49.4 x 2 inches / 185.9 x 125.5 x 5 cm
-
Jim Lambie
The Jam (Cygnus), 2011
Jam jars, t-shirts
Installed dimensions variable
- Detail
-
Scott Myles
Open House (3 Aird’s Lane), 2017
Unique screen print on The Modern Institute office door
78 x 30.3 x 6.7 inches / 198 x 77 x 17 cm
-
Scott Myles
Potlatch (Protest Song), 2016
Screen print, paint and True-Grain on canvas
60.2 x 35.4 x 3.9 inches / 153 x 90 x 10 cm
-
Walter Price
Too young to be a witness, 2017
Acrylic on wood
Framed: 31 x 41 x 2.31 inches / 78.7 x 104.1 x 5.9 cm
-
Sue Tompkins
I, 2014
Acrylic on canvas
24.4 x 20.5 x 2 inches / 62.1 x 52.1 x 5 cm
-
Sue Tompkins
We.R, 2015
Acrylic on canvas
48 x 40.2 x 22 inches / 122 x 102 x 5 cm
-
Martino Gamper
Air Caned, 2017
Air Chair, Cane, Pagholz back rest
33.9 x 18.3 x 20.9 inches / 86 x 46.5 x 53 cm
-
Martino Gamper
Mono Thonet, 2017
Monoblock chair, bentwood beech
35.4 x 21.7 x 22 inches / 90 x 55 x 56 cm
-
Monika Sosnowska
Pipe, 2017
Painted steel
49.2 x 70.9 x 53.1 inches / 125 x 180 x 135 cm
-
Cathy Wilkes
Untitled, 2016
Paper mache object, pastel on newspaper
7.9 x 13.4 x 3.5 inches / 20 x 34 x 9 cm
-
Cathy Wilkes
Untitled, 2016
Felt tip pen on cotton fabric, museum glass
14.5 x 30.8 x 3.5 inches / 36.9 x 78.2 x 8.8 cm
-
Richard Wright
No Title, 2017
Table, books and drawings
Dimensions variable
- Detail
-
Richard Wright
No Title, 2017
Watercolor on paper
10.2 x 14.2 inches / 26 x 36 cm
-
Richard Wright
No Title, 2017
Ink, watercolor and enamel on paper
11.8 x 9.8 inches / 30 x 25 cm
-
Nicholas Party
Window Decoration, 2018
Gouache
Dimensions variable






Last Hours of Evening Light, 2015
Painted aluminum, cement fondue, painted and stained steel, brass wire
35.4 x 45.7 x 18.5 inches / 90 x 116 x 47 cm

Untitled, 2014
Steel, painted steel
59 x 63 x 59 inches / 149.9 x 160 x 149.9 cm


Untitled, 2017
Concrete and stainless steel
28 x 53 x 99.5 inches / 71.1 x 134.6 x 252.7 cm

Woman Crying #13, 2017
C-print
35.2 x 53 inches / 89.5 x 134.6 cm

GHIRRI, 2015
Group of 12 C-prints
Each: 10.2 x 14.2 inches / 26 x 36 cm
Overall: 47.2 x 68.9 inches / 120 x 175 cm

England's Dreaming, 2011
Collage with oil painting and printed paper
Framed: 73.2 x 49.4 x 2 inches / 185.9 x 125.5 x 5 cm

The Jam (Cygnus), 2011
Jam jars, t-shirts
Installed dimensions variable


Open House (3 Aird's Lane), 2017
Unique screen print on The Modern Institute office door
78 x 30.3 x 6.7 inches / 198 x 77 x 17 cm

Potlatch (Protest Song), 2016
Screen print, paint and True-Grain on canvas
60.2 x 35.4 x 3.9 inches / 153 x 90 x 10 cm

Too young to be a witness, 2017
Acrylic on wood
Framed: 31 x 41 x 2.31 inches / 78.7 x 104.1 x 5.9 cm

I, 2014
Acrylic on canvas
24.4 x 20.5 x 2 inches / 62.1 x 52.1 x 5 cm

We.R, 2015
Acrylic on canvas
48 x 40.2 x 22 inches / 122 x 102 x 5 cm

Air Caned, 2017
Air Chair, Cane, Pagholz back rest
33.9 x 18.3 x 20.9 inches / 86 x 46.5 x 53 cm

Mono Thonet, 2017
Monoblock chair, bentwood beech
35.4 x 21.7 x 22 inches / 90 x 55 x 56 cm

Pipe, 2017
Painted steel
49.2 x 70.9 x 53.1 inches / 125 x 180 x 135 cm

Untitled, 2016
Paper mache object, pastel on newspaper
7.9 x 13.4 x 3.5 inches / 20 x 34 x 9 cm

Untitled, 2016
Felt tip pen on cotton fabric, museum glass
14.5 x 30.8 x 3.5 inches / 36.9 x 78.2 x 8.8 cm

No Title, 2017
Table, books and drawings
Dimensions variable


No Title, 2017
Watercolor on paper
10.2 x 14.2 inches / 26 x 36 cm

No Title, 2017
Ink, watercolor and enamel on paper
11.8 x 9.8 inches / 30 x 25 cm

Window Decoration, 2018
Gouache
Dimensions variable