STEPHEN FEHÉR
[email protected]
placitasartists.com/s_feher
 
The human form always fascinated Fehér, seeing in the varieties of shapes the beauty that has attracted artists for millennia. When he retired from the practice of psychology in 2010, he decided to see if he could approximate the human anatomy, beginning by making a form and using copper sheet material. To shape the copper, he needed mallets which he had to make. With those, he was able to shape the copper in the concrete form, and then taught himself copper brazing. Later he used steel placed inside the forms and welded from the reverse side so when the finished piece was taken out of the concrete form the welds were invisible. As an avid bicyclist, he thought of using bike chains. There is an ample supply of those since the old ones are sent to landfills. Again, he worked on the reverse side, so the welds were invisible once the piece came out of the mold, and immediately there was a positive response from people who saw them.

Being curious about what people found so attractive about the pieces, Fehér asked different people why they liked them. One person said something about the light alternating with dark; another said that the patterns created by the material were attractive, and another spoke about the Yin-Yang quality in the pieces. He came to appreciate that the pieces need to be displayed using spotlights to cast shadows, and the shadows are another manifestation of Yin energy. Someone said something about the lacy texture, especially in the shadows. The impressions are subjective and are projected onto the sculpture by the viewer. The words most often used by people seeing these figures for the first time are “unique, original, creative, imaginative.”

In 2015 Fehér entered two pieces in a regional Veterans Creative Arts Festival. One piece, a molten copper figure, got a Second-Place prize, and another, a bike chain piece, was awarded First Place. The First -Place entry was sent to the National Veterans Art Festival of 2015 and was awarded a Gold Medal and First Place award in its category. In 2016 he entered sculptures in the Fine Arts Exhibition at the State Fair in New Mexico. One of the sculptures was awarded First-Place in the Sculpture Division. In 2019 he entered two sculptures in the Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Albuquerque. Both pieces were awarded First-Place prizes and one was chosen as Best of Show. Either or both pieces may be selected to be sent to the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Battle Creek, Michigan in October.