Fisher began his lecture in an unusual but effective looped clip of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (making me want to watch the whole film that night), featuring Marilyn Monroe, infamous for her glamour and beauty. This theme of glamour continued throughout his practice, with his introduction putting his personality and practice in perspective.
One thing that Fisher does very well is to portray the idea of glamour and desire mixed in with violence, as shown in the work below. The use of floral wall papering connotes the glamour of bright colours and soft patterns, juxtaposed with the deep red of fabric blood. One thing I did note was that his interpretation of glamour (wallpaper and checked floor) seemed to me to be quite homely and typical, with the blood spatters marking them and forcing them to become a scene of horror and death.
Many of his later pieces also incorporate the idea of materiality, as Fisher uses pearls, silks, sequins and glitter to then juxtapose with frankly quite vile imagery such as vomit splatters (below), an alley way covered in piss, "Leak in chav corner", and many more. It questions the idea of beauty and how we define it, as well as making a point to ask when beauty becomes grotesque. The dark humour of the work made it very appealing to me, as well as the urban vs theatrical battle that I saw within the work. The context became urban and recognisable as disgusting and vile, yet the fabrics still kept that essence of Fisher's theatricality and glamour that is seen throughout his practice.
Fisher liked to make sure the viewer could instantly recognise imagery, particularly violent imagery that he has put his stamp of glamour on (with the fabric materials) by choosing iconic scenes from horror films such as The Shining and Psycho. The idea behind using iconic movie sets again adds a sense of glamour due to the old school Hollywood and the deeply coloured fabrics. It also makes the idea of violence and horror appear to be quite sanitary and clean, due to the cartoon-esque style that the materials are shaped into. With both the context and the sumptious fabrics, the art work gets a theatrical quality that clearly imitates the artist's theatrical personality as well.
"Gotcha" (below) appears to be another representation of the film references, yet one Fisher came up with instead. It seems sexy yet dirty; the blood spatters are patterned and comic with deep red that seems to ooze slowly and seductively down the walls. Yet the context with the chainsaw on the floor makes it look like the viewer has stepped into a dark cartoon. What it did make me wonder was whether Fisher had ever thought of mixing his fabricated objects with real life ones. For example, with "Gotcha", the piece may change and produce a different reaction if the blood spatters stayed as they are but he replaced the fabric chainsaw with a real one.
One of my favourite pieces by Fisher is the crashed car piece (below, obviously) as you can tell the attention he took to detail of the car, but also the material of the fabric softens the violent blow from the car crash. Particularly in a time when car crashes happen all too often, his work makes something quite horrific, softly pretty. The juxtaposition makes the viewer step back and take in the entire scene. Fisher stated that he wanted the viewer to try and unravel the narrative behind the work, or at least to guess what it may be. It turns out the narrative was personal to him and his partner, something the viewer, without asking the artist, would have no clue about. It made me wonder exactly what narrative the viewer was supposed to get from the work, or what Fisher had in mind. Fisher has made the comment that he got inspiration from David Kronenberg's "Crash.
Overall Fisher played with the ideas of excess and the obscene, making the 'unlookable' become something that the viewer has the desire to look at and study.
"Art is the new consumerism"
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