Angus Fairhurst
Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art:
Top
Angus Fairhurst
British artist, born in Pembury, Kent. He studied at Canterbury College of Art, 1985–6, and Goldsmiths College, 1986–9, where he became friends with Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas and took part in Hirst's ‘Freeze’ exhibition. His work tended to be less brash and rather more cerebral than that of his colleagues and as a result was sometimes overlooked. (He was not included in the ‘Sensation’ exhibition of 1997.) Gallery Connections (1991–6, Tate) is a series of audio tapes produced by the simple expedient of phoning various galleries, putting the hand sets together and withdrawing and recording the resulting confused conversations. On one level this can be interpreted as a satire on the inward-looking nature of the art world. The fascination of the work goes further as people who all know each other find their customary relationships made strange and unsettling. Fairhurst made a number of sculptures of gorillas which were included in ‘In-da-Gadda-da-Vida’, an exhibition held at Tate Britain in 2004 with Hirst and Lucas. A Couple of Differences Between Thinking and Feeling (2002) had the gorilla contemplating his severed arm. Richard Dorment has interpreted this piece as saying that ‘we become conscious of who we are only when we realise we are not complete, when our brain can imagine its own limitations.’ Fairhurst committed suicide. He was found hanged in Argyll the day his final solo exhibition closed.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Angus Fairhurst
| Angus Fairhurst | |
|---|---|
 Angus Fairhurst |
|
| Born | 4 October 1966 Pembury, Kent, England |
| Died | 29 March 2008 (aged 41) Bridge of Orchy, Scotland |
| Nationality | British |
| Field | Conceptual art, sculpture |
| Training | Canterbury Art College, Goldsmiths, University of London |
| Movement | Young British Artists |
Angus Fairhurst (4 October 1966 – 29 March 2008) was an English artist working in installation, photography and video. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs).
|
Contents
|
Life and work
Angus Fairhurst was born in Pembury, Kent. Having attended The Judd School between 1978 and 1985, he studied at Canterbury Art College 1985–1986, and graduated in 1989 in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, where he was in the same year as Damien Hirst. In February 1988, Fairhurst organised a show of student work, which was a precursor to the Freeze show largely organised by Hirst in July 1988 with sixteen other students from Goldsmith, including Fairhurst.[1] Fairhurst and Hirst became close friends and collaborated on many projects. Fairhurst was also for several years the partner and sometime-collaborator of Sarah Lucas.
Fairhurst's work was often characterised by visual distortion and practical jokes. In 1991, he did a piece in which he networked together the phones of leading contemporary art dealers in London so that they could only talk to each other – a witty and telling remark that the art world is often only interested in speaking to itself.
He worked in different media, including video, photography and painting, and is noted for sculptures of gorillas.[2]
Angus Fairhurst exhibited nationally and internationally after graduating from Goldsmiths. Exhibitions include Freeze and Some Went Mad and Some Ran Away, Brilliant! at the Walker Art Center and Apocalypse at the Royal Academy in 2001. A 2004 exhibition In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, was held at the Tate Gallery with Hirst and Lucas.
Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate gallery, said:
| “ | Angus Fairhurst was always deprecating about his own talent, but he made some of the most engaging, witty and perceptive works of his generation and was an enormously influential friend of other British artists who came to prominence in the early nineties.[3] | ” |
Fairhurst exhibited at Sadie Coles HQ in London. On 29 March 2008, the final day of his third solo show at the gallery, he was found hanging from a tree in a remote Highland woodland near Bridge of Orchy in Scotland, having taken his own life.[4][5] He is survived by his mother and brother.[2]
References
- ^ Akbar, Arifa; Powell, Mariane. "Artist behind 1990s boom 'commits suicide'", The Independent, 1 April 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
- ^ a b Cramb, Auslan. "Britart founder Angus Fairhurst found hanged", The Daily Telegraph, 1 April 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2008.
- ^ Brown, Mark. "Artist Angus Fairhurst dead at 41", The Guardian, 31 March 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
- ^ Oliver Basciano (31 March 2008), Angus Fairhurst (1966–2008), ARTINFO, http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/27242/angus-fairhurst-19662008/, retrieved 2008-05-19
- ^ Gregor Muir. "Obituary - Angus Fairhurst", The Guardian, 2 April 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
Literature
- Angus Fairhurst, Sacha Craddock, James Cahill (foreword by Nicholas Serota), (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2009)
External links
- Matthew Slotover on Angus Fairhurst
- Angus Fairhurst on Sadie Coles HQ (includes CV)
- Angus Fairhurst in the Tate collection
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art
A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. © 1998
Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved.
Read more
