Alexander Heim @ Doggerfisher

Heim’s first solo exhibition in the UK questions the role of nature within the urban environment. The main wall of the gallery is interjected with earthenware bowls mounted at varying heights. These thick, earthy bowls hold jewel-like incrustations of cracked coloured glass liquid interior. The unsystematic display of these beautiful objects perhaps echoes the irregularity of nature and therefore creates a twist in the convential display of man-made objects. On another gallery wall is Heim’s 9-minute film entitled Costa, which shows the artist’s observation of nature interrupting urbanism. The drab, mundane scene consists of scraping metal chairs, concrete steps and the legs of sitting coffee drinkers, around which are pigeons creating a contrast to the structured built environment in which they flutter. The main gallery space is dominated by three large grey towering papier-mâché structures. Appearing isolated and abandoned, these cliff-like sculptures hold clues to both nature and the manmade. Through the back of the gallery are 5 snapshots of pavement slabs. For such a potentially dull subject matter, these images interestingly display the unavoidable consequence that time and nature will have on man-made structures, however rigidly planned they may be. This diverse exhibition of mixed media demonstrates that the distinction between nature and urbanism is never black and white and that the interaction of the two can actually create a beautiful, dull grey.