Linear B
Artist
Tony Feher
(American, 1956–2016)
Date2001
Mediumplastic bottles, caps, galvanized steel D-chain, stainless steel wire, water and cotton sash cord.
Dimensionstop of chain to bottom of bottles: 241.3 x 45.7 cm (95 x 18 in.)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineSarah C. Garver Fund
Object number2004.30
DescriptionDimensions vary with installation; 95" from top of chain to bottom of bottles; piece should hang approximately 4" above floor; approx. 18" diameter; artist's certificateLabel TextThe matter-of-fact alignment of repeated elements in Linear B and its architectural dependence are rooted in the minimalist methods of the previous generation, but Tony Feher applies them to “forgettable” materials that have little aesthetic value to most of us. Feher employs the ubiquitous plastic soda bottle and materials purchased at the hardware store with little, if any, alteration and lets their physical natures function in terms of traditional sculptural tasks: density, color, light, mass, texture, and scale. Clear bottles of water create transparent planes and horizons; ascending blue bottle caps articulate a column; lengths of cord, chain, and wire read as lines in space. Like a poem’s ability to sensitize us to the most common of words, Feher’s sculpture, by virtue of the barely discernable difference between the materials he selects and the art he makes as a result, encourages us to be aware of the nuances of perception. “I think people are looking all the time, but I don’t think they are seeing anything. And I think that’s true not just with a piece of art that’s in front of them, but in a larger cultural sense…If you can accept a soda bottle with condensation on the inside as a work of art, then maybe that’s a way of seeing a broader picture, or of seeing the world from a different point of view.” ProvenanceVera List Estate; D'Amelio Terras, New York
On View
On view
