The University of Texas in Austin
Tony Feher was born in 1956 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. 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.
Feher received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1978 from The University of Texas in Austin.
After receiving his degree in Austin, 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.
Tony began exhibiting fine art in 1980 and had his first solo show at Wooster Gardens in 1994, and shortly thereafter was reviewed favorably by Roberta Smith in a short article titled "Three Artists Who Favor Chaos." Tony Feher's chaos is actually rather well-organized and instinctively archival and devotional.
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.
Feher's sculptural installations — part hobo altar, part curio cabinet, part TSA contraband table — often had a nuanced understanding of the emotional power of the quotidian object, while displaying, at times, a quality of manic ranging. 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 offered quiet encounters, suggesting the ways an individual might invest discarded bits of flotsam — vacant consumer packaging, toys, and novelties — with deep personal meaning. Feher's work was said to be refreshingly direct and permissive; he wasn't overly concerned with its representational character or intellectual ambition.
Silvia Bottinelli, writing in Sculpture Magazine, noted that Feher's ambition differed markedly from other contemporary artists who have made the commonplace object their own. Feher’s interpretation of the readymade was not strictly Duchampian, though. His work was 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 were part of his daily environment. Feher died on June 24, 2016, from cancer-related complications. He was 60.
Untitled
Long Term Pillow
Blossom
Just So
Untitled
Super Special Happy Place (installation view)
Enjoy
It Seemed a Beautiful Day
Untitled
(Crystalline)
Probably Best Seen in a Dark Room with the T.V. On
Round Things with a Hole in the Middle Most of the Time
A Little Bird Told Me in Everyday Eden (installation view)
Sharadiant
Three Guys
