{{short description|American sculptor (1956–2016)}} {{Infobox person | name = Tony Feher | birth_date = March 2, 1956 | birth_place = Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|6|24|1956|3|2}} | death_place = New York, New York, U.S. | occupation = Artist }} '''Tony Feher''' (March 2, 1956{{spnd}}June 24, 2016) was an American sculptor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sikkemajenkinsco.com/index.php?v=artist&artist=510d479db6ee0 |title=Sikkema Jenkins & Co |publisher=Sikkema Jenkins & Co |date=2015-01-13 |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref> He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1978. He began exhibiting fine art in 1980 and had his first solo show at Wooster Gardens in 1994,<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://lucienterras.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Feher_CV.pdf |title=Lucien Terras |publisher=Lucien Terras |date=2010-11-12 |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref> which Roberta Smith reviewed favorably in a short article titled "Three Artists Who Favor Chaos," saying, "Tony Feher's chaos is actually rather well-organized and instinctively archival and devotional."<ref>{{cite news | first = Roberta | last = Smith | title = Three Artists Who Favor Chaos | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/02/arts/art-in-review-749391.html | newspaper = The New York Times | location = New York | date = August 2, 1991 | accessdate = June 25, 2016 | language = English }}</ref> Since then, notable solo exhibitions of his work have taken place at Diverseworks in Houston; Sikkema Jenkins & Co., Pace Gallery, and D’Amelio Terras in New York; ACME in Los Angeles; Anthony Meier Fine Arts in San Francisco; and The Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois.<ref name="auto"/>
==Work==
Feher's sculptural installations—part hobo altar, part curio cabinet, part TSA contraband table—often belie a nuanced understanding of the emotional power of the quotidian object, while displaying, at times, a quality of manic ranging.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2013/04/30/tony-feher-messages-in-bottles/ |title=Feher Play |publisher=ArtNews |date=2013-04-30 |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref> His signature material, the brightly colored plastic beverage container, found its way into minimalist compositions as well as exuberant displays of three dimensional abstraction. His pieces offer quiet encounters, suggesting the ways an individual might invest discarded bits of flotsam—vacant consumer packaging, toys and novelties—with deep personal meaning.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/6927/tony-feher |title=Artists in Conversation |publisher=BOMB |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref> Feher's work was said to be refreshingly direct and permissive; he wasn't overly concerned with its representational character or intellectual ambition. Critic Wayne Koestenbaum stated that ...."He collects and arranges his colorful foundlings with custodial precision—a kinky rigor that restores the dignity of those who overly cathect to household flotsam. Feher’s patterns reassure; he seems a model-maker, constructing maquettes of villages and bundled communities that imagine utopia by seceding from usefulness into gridded whimsy."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://artforum.com/news/id=61361 |title=Tony Feher (1956-2016) |publisher=Artforum |date=2016-06-24 |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref> Silvia Bottinelli, writing in ''Sculpture Magazine'', noted that Feher's ambition differs markedly from other contemporary artists (such as Haim Steinbach) who have made the commonplace object their own: "Feher’s interpretation of the readymade is not strictly Duchampian, though. His work is not about decontextualizing manufactured objects to question ideas of craftsmanship and originality in art. Before landing in a gallery or museum, the elements of his sculptures are part of his daily environment."<ref>{{cite magazine | last = Bottinelli | first = Silvia | date = April 1, 2014 | volume = 33 | issue = 3 | title = LINCOLN, MASSACHUSETTS: Tony Feher | url = https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-3256674441/lincoln-massachusetts-tony-feher | magazine = Sculpture | location = New York, NY | publisher = International Sculpture Center | access-date= 2016-06-25 }}</ref>
==Personal life and death==
As a young child, Feher exhibited a curiosity towards tinkering with and transforming everyday objects.<ref name="auto1"/> Feher's father was a Navy commander and the family moved frequently throughout his childhood.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24282389/ |title=RETIREMENT CEREMONY |publisher=The Corpus Christi Caller-Times |date=1967-06-30 |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref>
After receiving his BFA in Austin, Texas, Feher worked a variety of odd jobs, including store clerk and architect's assistant. He subsequently moved to New York, where, in the 1980s, he contracted AIDS. His work was occasionally associated with the ephemeral and fleeting nature of life as an HIV-positive man.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2016/06/24/tony-feher-sculptor-of-simple-objects-with-far-reaching-meaning-dies-at-60/ |title=Tony Feher, Sculptor of Simple Objects, Dies at 60 |publisher=ArtNews |date=2016-06-24 |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref> Feher died on June 24, 2016, from liver cancer complications. He was 60.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2016/06/24/tony-feher-sculptor-of-simple-objects-with-far-reaching-meaning-dies-at-60/|title=Tony Feher, Sculptor of Simple Objects With Far-Reaching Meaning, Dies at 60|first=Alex|last=Greenberger|date=24 June 2016|publisher=|accessdate=9 October 2018}}</ref>
==Solo exhibitions==
;2014 :Tony Feher: Super Special Happy Group, Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX :Tony Feher, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT :Tony Feher, The Lumber Room, Portland, OR :Tony Feher, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH :Tony Feher: Two Works, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA ;2013 :Tony Feher: Free Fall, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX :Encore, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY :Tony Feher, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA :Free Fall, Diverse Works, Houston, TX ;2012 :Tony Feher – A Work in Four Parts, Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX :Tony Feher, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA :Tony Feher, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA :Tony Feher: Extraordinary Ordinary, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS :ArtPace, San Antonio, TX :Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA ;2011 :Next On Line, Pace Gallery, New York, NY ;2010 :Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX :Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX ;2009 :Blossom, D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY :Wall Show, D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY ;2008 :Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA :Re:Place, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA :Pace Wildenstein, New York, NY :D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY ;2007 :Some Time Soon, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX :A Single Act of Carelessness... Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN :ACME, Los Angeles, CA ;2006 :The Suburban, Oak Park, IL ;2005 :Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA :The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX ;2004 :The Wart on the Bosom of Mother Nature, D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY :Transport to Summer, Foundación La Caixa, Lleida, Spain <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anthonymeierfinearts.com/attachment/en/555f2a8acfaf3429568b4568/TextTwoColumnsWithFile/555f2a93cfaf3429568b46ff |title=Anthony Meier Fine Arts|publisher=Anthony Meier |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/11617/tony-feher |title=PACE Gallery|publisher=PACE |accessdate=2016-06-24}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Feher, Tony}} Category:1956 births Category:2016 deaths Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:20th-century American male artists Category:American male sculptors Category:Sculptors from New York (state) Category:Sculptors from New Mexico Category:Sculptors from Texas Category:Artists from Albuquerque, New Mexico Category:Artists from Corpus Christi, Texas Category:21st-century American sculptors Category:21st-century American male artists Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni Category:Deaths from liver cancer in New York (state)