Tony Feher, “Blossom, 2009”. November 7, 2007 – December 23, 2007. Installation View — D’Amelio Terras Photo by: Melissa Timarchi. Courtesy of the artist and D’Amelio Terras, New YorkBlossom
Tony Feher is one of our favorite artists who elevates ordinary objects into engaging, often poetic sculptures, all the while insisting the object remain true to itself.
Working with bottles, caps, and crates to name just a few of his favorite finds, Feher uses accumulation, arrangement, and placement of the objects in an indoor or outdoor space to encourage us to see the banal disregarded items anew.
Over 20 years ago, Feher looked through the window of a children’s store in the East Village and saw a fishbowl of marbles sparkling in the sunlight. ”The roundness, the brightness, the clarity, the simplicity–it amused me. I bought a whole bunch of marbles and put them in these honey jars I had collected and said, that’s a sculpture.” See related images here.
“I started collecting all this stuff I found on the streets, like little sparkly chips of glass–road-kill sapphires and rubies. I would make associations and collections in jars and take them out and put them all around in a sequence. I finally stopped cleaning up my room and out of that came the art.”
Tony Feher, “Blossom, 2009”. November 7, 2007 – December 23, 2007. Installation View — D’Amelio Terras Photo by: Melissa Timarchi. Courtesy of the artist and D’Amelio Terras, New York
Experience it…
Tony Feher
Blossom
D’Amelio Terras
525 West 22nd Street
www.damelioterras.com
until December 23
Feher debuts his new sculpture Blossom, a pink flower created from extruded polystyrene. Sitting on the floor, the oversize blossom marks a shift in scale and volume for Feher. In his typical fashion, Feher utilizes the inherent properties of the material–it’s color, smooth surface, size and most importantly, hinged pleats–to create a fan-like form. The warmth of the pink color and soft sheen of light across the surface offset their almost goofy cartoonish nature. Don’t be fooled by their nonchalant presence which may overshadow Feher’s thoughtful and rigorous process.
Follow-up…
Check out other examples of Feher’s work: http://www.damelioterras.com/artist.html?id=16#
Collect your own items and consider their inherent properties including color, shape, and texture. Select a site at home or outdoors and using the strategies of accumulation, juxtaposition, and arrangement, create a sculpture that highlights the qualities of your selected items and responds to the surrounding environment.
Front Room: Yoshihiro Suda
Yoshihiro Suda. November 7, 2007 – December 23, 2007. Installation View — D’Amelio Terras Photo by: Melissa Timarchi. Courtesy of the artist and D’Amelio Terras, New York
Experience it…
Don’t miss Yoshihiro Suda’s tiny plants growing out of the electrical sockets in the floor of the front gallery room. Working with magnolia wood, Suda carves sculptures of existing plants and flowers and then painstakingly paints them with traditional Japanese pigments. As you can see, the results are strikingly realistic!
Take a moment to compare the material, process, scale, and placement in the gallery of Suda and Feher’s work.
Follow-up…
Check out Yoshihiro Suda: In Focus at the Asia Society. Inspired by the Asia Society’s Rockefeller Collection, Suda created a new sculpture and it is installed in the gallery along with pieces from the collection that the artist selected.
Yoshihiro Suda: In Focus
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
http://www.asiasociety.org/arts-culture/asia-society-museum/current-exhibitions/yoshihiro-suda-focus
until February 7, 2010