The Charles Cowles Gallery is pleased to announce the inclusion of VERNON FISHER in the Whitney Museum of American Art's 2000 Biennial. FISHER's featured works, Taza and Tunis, are from the artist's series of Zombies, seemingly abstract paintings scattered with life-sized sculptures of flies. The heavily worked surfaces are coated, sanded and heat-treated so that they appear weathered and cracked. The relationship between these rugged surfaces and the exotic locations after which FISHER titles the works is reinforced by the insinuation of a horizon in the painted color fields. The appeal of traditional landscape painting is distorted by the presence of the remarkably convincing cast-epoxy flies, creating a spark of action on both the canvas and the surrounding wall. Each fly is unique and meticulously hand-painted, fooling the viewer's eye. Among other readings, the combination of elements relates to art-making after postmodernism. As FISHER said of the series, "if abstract painting is dead, than these are at least the walking dead - still limping around."
The virtuosity of FISHER's oeuvre ranges from sculptural installations and wall texts, to his blackboard paintings and on to the more recent Zombies. A keen observer of the imagery of contemporary society, FISHER exercises his dry wit, sumptuous rendering, and meticulous craftsmanship to create works of beauty, intrigue, and irony. An author as well as a visual artist, FISHER often combines painted imagery with text and/or three-dimensional elements. The resulting pieces act as visual metaphors, challenging viewers to investigate and contemplate the works before them in the larger context of contemporary art.
VERNON FISHER, who lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas, is included in numerous private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.
Recent works are available and on view at the Charles Cowles Gallery. A solo exhibition at the Charles Cowles Gallery will take place in September 2000.