ArtTalk – Chuck Fischer

What’s behind the curtain? 

Chuck Fischer’s abstract constructions—or tableaux reliefs—break the plane of two-dimensional art. He creates multi-surface pieces from intricately hand-cut wood, aluminum and copper. He finishes with colored gesso and modeling paste to bring the surface of the work into conversation with its maze-like depth. Recently Fischer has added trompe l’oeil painting in some of his works to fool the viewer as to what is real and what is painted. He enhances the visual mystery by hiding sections of the work behind textured geometric pieces or painted fabric, resulting in a lively interplay between perception and deception. 

Extraordinarily, all of this visual complexity is improvisational. Fischer rarely sketches before starting a new piece, trusting his intuition, life experiences and the materials at hand to create works of spatial balance and harmony. We’ll talk about his process and inspiration.

Chuck Fischer has designs in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Museum, The Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, and the Artists’ Book Collection of the Library of Congress. He created signature tabletop collections for Lenox and wallpaper and fabric for the Brunschwig & Fils and F. Schumacher collections. He designed and painted four holiday cards for the White House Historical Association as well as exclusive lines of giftware. Fischer’s oeuvre includes nine pop-up books, such as “Great American Houses and Gardens” (Rizzoli/Universe) and “Christmas in New York” (Little, Brown & Co.). His fine paper products were presented by Caspari and C.R. Gibson. Fischer’s hand-painted murals grace the walls of some of the finest residences across the United States and Europe. He was recently featured in the fine art magazines Artists Magazine and Woven Tale Press and is currently the cover feature story in River Towns Magazine. This year Fischer was a resident at the Chautauqua Institution School of Art. His work is currently on exhibit at the Phillips’ Mill 96th Juried Art Exhibit. In Philadelphia, he’s represented by Cerulean Arts.