Tony Feher: Free Fall
Rebecca Camacho Presents is pleased to announce Free Fall, an immersive installation by American sculptor Tony Feher (b. 1956 – 2016). Renowned for work that employs quotidian and easily acquired materials that capture the transience of life, Feher’s deceptively simple media are specific, sought after, and chosen for their distinct and inimitable formal qualities. The commonality and apparent ease with which Feher’s works occupy their environment belie the rigorous nature of a practice driven by an incessant quest for moments of clarity, beauty, and peace.
Tony Feher’s site-responsive installation Free Fall was originally commissioned by DiverseWorks in Houston, Texas in 2013, occurring simultaneously with Feher’s mid-career retrospective at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston.
Originally composed of dozens of single, clear, partially-filled Aquapod water bottles suspended from the ceiling by individual strands of string, at the close of the DiverseWorks exhibition Feher reconfigured the pods into eight clusters, comprised of between 7 to 10 bottles each. Reinstalled now for the first time in over a decade, the clusters are affixed to the ceiling of the gallery, dangling from architectural compositions of string. Incorporating the ubiquitous plastic water bottle, the work consists of the humble materials that Feher was known for throughout his career. Suspended at varying heights throughout the gallery, viewers are invited to gaze at and through the small bottles while they traverse within, and around, each cluster. Indeed, an awareness of the choreography of our bodily movements through the work as well as the optical possibilities afforded by the clear plastic bottles and clear liquid inside each of them, are intrinsic elements. Clinging together, the weighty bottles could be construed as bodily masses, holding, clutching, supporting one another.
Free Fall was a first for Feher who invited other artists from the Houston area to collaboratively respond to the work through performance, improvisational dance, music, and spoken word, all within the confines of the installation at DiverseWorks. The results varied widely. In keeping with Feher’s intention, Rebecca Camacho Presents has programmed two performances to activate the current installation.
