# Tony Feher > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tony_Feher > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tony_Feher.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Feher > Source revision: 1343046194 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American sculptor (1956–2016)}} {{Infobox person | name = Tony Feher | birth_date = March 2, 1956 | birth_place = [Albuquerque, New Mexico](/source/Albuquerque%2C_New_Mexico), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|6|24|1956|3|2}} | death_place = [New York, New York](/source/New_York%2C_New_York), U.S. | occupation = Artist }} '''Tony Feher''' (March 2, 1956{{spnd}}June 24, 2016) was an American sculptor.{{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}} He was born in [Albuquerque, New Mexico](/source/Albuquerque%2C_New_Mexico), and was raised in [Corpus Christi, Texas](/source/Corpus_Christi%2C_Texas). He received a Bachelor of Arts from the [University of Texas at Austin](/source/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,{{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}} which [Roberta Smith](/source/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."{{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 }} Since then, notable solo exhibitions of his work have taken place at Diverseworks in Houston; Sikkema Jenkins & Co., [Pace Gallery](/source/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](/source/Oak_Park%2C_Illinois). ==Work== Feher's [sculptural installations](/source/Installation_art)—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.{{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}} His signature material, the brightly colored plastic beverage container, found its way into [minimalist](/source/Minimalism_(visual_arts)) compositions as well as exuberant displays of three dimensional [abstraction](/source/Abstract_art). 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.{{cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/6927/tony-feher |title=Artists in Conversation |publisher=BOMB |accessdate=2016-06-24}} 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](/source/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."{{cite web|url=http://artforum.com/news/id=61361 |title=Tony Feher (1956-2016) |publisher=Artforum |date=2016-06-24 |accessdate=2016-06-24}} Silvia Bottinelli, writing in ''Sculpture Magazine'', noted that Feher's ambition differs markedly from other contemporary artists (such as [Haim Steinbach](/source/Haim_Steinbach)) who have made the commonplace object their own: "Feher’s interpretation of the readymade is not strictly [Duchampian](/source/Marcel_Duchamp), 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."{{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 }} ==Personal life and death== As a young child, Feher exhibited a curiosity towards tinkering with and transforming everyday objects. Feher's father was a Navy commander and the family moved frequently throughout his childhood.{{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}} After receiving his BFA in [Austin, Texas](/source/Austin%2C_Texas), Feher worked a variety of odd jobs, including store clerk and architect's assistant. He subsequently moved to [New York](/source/New_York_City), where, in the 1980s, he contracted [AIDS](/source/AIDS). His work was occasionally associated with the ephemeral and fleeting nature of life as an HIV-positive man.{{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}} Feher died on June 24, 2016, from liver cancer complications. He was 60.{{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}} ==Solo exhibitions== ;2014 :Tony Feher: Super Special Happy Group, Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX :Tony Feher, [Utah Museum of Fine Arts](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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 {{cite web|url=http://www.anthonymeierfinearts.com/attachment/en/555f2a8acfaf3429568b4568/TextTwoColumnsWithFile/555f2a93cfaf3429568b46ff |title=Anthony Meier Fine Arts|publisher=Anthony Meier |accessdate=2016-06-24}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/11617/tony-feher |title=PACE Gallery|publisher=PACE |accessdate=2016-06-24}} == References == {{Reflist|2}} {{Authority control}} {{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) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tony Feher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Feher) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Feher?action=history)). 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