Terry Fox (artist)
Encyclopedia
Terry Fox was an American
video
, conceptual
, sound
, and performance
artist.
on the West Coast. Before permanently moving to Europe, he was based in San Francisco in the late 1960s and 1970s. Fox later moved to Liege, Belgium
. His seminal series of works (environments, performances, sculptures, drawings) produced over an eight year period was based on the theme of the configuration of the Chartres
Labyrinth. He died in Cologne
, Germany
in 2008.
Fox has been included in numerous international solo and group exhibitions including the documenta
5, Kassel, 1975 Whitney Biennial
and 1984 Venice Biennale
. He had two major exhibitions in Berkeley
, his first solo museum show curated by Brenda Richardson in 1973, and one in 1985 organized around the body of works owned by the Berkeley Art Museum organized by Constance Lewallen. His retrospective solo exhibition was organized by the Kunsthalle Fridericianum
, Kassel in 2003.
Fox is represented by the San Francisco dealer Paule Anglim and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York City.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
video
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
, conceptual
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
, sound
Sound art
Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists....
, and performance
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
artist.
Biography
Fox was born in Seattle, Washington. At the age of seventeen, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, later referencing the cycles of illness and wellness in several artworks. Fox was an important figure in post-minimal sculpture, conceptual art, performance, and video artVideo art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
on the West Coast. Before permanently moving to Europe, he was based in San Francisco in the late 1960s and 1970s. Fox later moved to Liege, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. His seminal series of works (environments, performances, sculptures, drawings) produced over an eight year period was based on the theme of the configuration of the Chartres
Chartres
Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...
Labyrinth. He died in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 2008.
Fox has been included in numerous international solo and group exhibitions including the documenta
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
5, Kassel, 1975 Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
and 1984 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. He had two major exhibitions in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, his first solo museum show curated by Brenda Richardson in 1973, and one in 1985 organized around the body of works owned by the Berkeley Art Museum organized by Constance Lewallen. His retrospective solo exhibition was organized by the Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Fridericianum
The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe. The quintennial art festival documenta is centred on the site....
, Kassel in 2003.
Fox is represented by the San Francisco dealer Paule Anglim and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York City.
Selected performance works
- Public Theater (1968-69) - events and posters in outdoor locations in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Isolation Unit (1970) – action/performance with Joseph BeuysJoseph BeuysJoseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf - Levitation (1970) – action/performance, installation, Richmond Art Center
- Wall Push (1970) – action/performance, Museum of Conceptual Art, San Francisco
- Defoliation (1970) – action/performance, University Art Museum, Berkeley
Selected film and video works
- Rain (1970) – Super 8 film, b&w, 3 min.
- Sweat (1970) – Super 8 film, b&w, 3 min.
- Breath (1970) – Super 8 film, color, 3 min.
- Needles Punctured (1971) – film, 30 min.
- Washing (1972) – film, 15 min.
- Azione per un Bacile (1972) – Super 8 film, color, 30 min.
- Tonguings (1970) – videotape, 30 min.
- Rakes Progress (1970) – videotape, 30 min.
- Turgescent Sex (1971) – videotape, 40 min.
- Clutch (1971) – videotape, 50 min.
- The fire... (1972) – videotape, color, 30 min.
- Incision (1973) – videotape, 15 min.
- Children's Tapes (1974) – videotape, 30 min.
- Lunar Rambles (1976) – videotapes
Selected Discography
- Berlino\Rallentando. LP record. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Het Appollohuis, 1989.
- Isolation Unit (Terry Fox: Pipes; Joseph Beuys: Seeds). (Extended play record, produced by the artists), 1970. Edition 500.
- Linkage. LP record with text by Martin Kunz. Lucerne, Switzerland: Kunstmuseum, 1982.
- Mag Magazine #3: Joan La Barbara/Terry Fox. Audiocassette edition. Vienna, Austria: Galerie Grita Insam, 1979.
- Revolutions per Minute. One cut on record of artists' sound works. New York: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, 1982.
- The Labyrinth Scored for the Purrs of 11 Different Cats. Audiocassette. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Het Appollohuis, 1989.
Selected bibliography
- Richardson, Brenda. ‘’Terry Fox’’. Berkeley: University Art Museum, University of California, 1973.
- Foley, Suzanne. Space Time Sound, Conceptual Art in the San Francisco Bay Area: The 1970s. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1981. ISBN 0-295-95879-0
- Albright, Thomas. Art of the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945 - 1980. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. ISBN 0520051939, 9780520051935
- University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University Gallery. In site: five conceptual artists from the Bay Area: Terry Fox, Howard Fried, David Ireland, Paul Kos, Tom Marioni: University Gallery, Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, February 2 March 17, 1990. Amherst: University Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1990.
- Fox, Terry, Eva Schmidt, Matthias Osterwold, Bern Schulz; ‘’Terry Fox: Works with Sound’’. Kehrer Verlag; 2003, ISBN-10: 3933257042
- Phillips, Glenn, ed. California Video: Artists and Histories. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute and J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008, ISBN 978-0-89236-922-5
External links
- Recalling Terry Fox a project of the Terry Fox Association
- Terry Fox is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco
- Terry Fox works, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
- Selected videos are distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
- Terry Fox's 1970s performances and video works from Performance Anthology: Source book of California Performance Art, 1981
- Selected videos are distributed by Montevideo/Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam
- Works by Terry Fox in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Works by Terry Fox in the collection of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
- Terry Fox biography on Media Art Net
- Prints by Terry Fox at Crown Point Press, San Francisco
- ArtForum article, April, 1993 by Eileen Neff