Vincent Fecteau
In fall 2019, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts premiered seven new sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Vincent Fecteau. This exhibition was Fecteau’s first solo exhibition in the Bay Area since 2002. The seven new works were made simultaneously as a group with an experimental process the artist developed for the occasion. Each step of the process was a discovery that led to undulating abstract forms that, while individuals in their own right, maintain certain formal affinities between them—much like siblings.
The late conceptual artist Lutz Bacher, a close friend to the artist and beloved Berkeley enigma, selected a series of photographs to accompany Fecteau’s new work before her passing. In an Eadweard Muybridge-like sequence, Bacher presented a series of found thrift store photos captured a wood chair breaking to pieces under the weight of a young girl. These large-scale prints hung on the gallery walls and laced the exhibition with complexities of time, narrative, humor, and sudden tragedy with a surprising formal rapport to the abstract sculptures resting on pedestals. This posthumous presentation of Bacher’s work was kept a secret until opening night.
Vincent Fecteau (September 5-November 9, 2019) was curated by Anthony Huberman and organized by Leila Grothe.
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Citations and links:
D’Aurizio, Michele. “Vincent Fecteau CCA Wattis Institute / San Francisco.” Flash Art, Nov-Jan 2019/2020, p.109-10.
Sussman, Matt. “Vincent Fecteau.” Art in America, November 2019, p.106.
Glück, Robert. “Vincent Fecteau.” Frieze, Nov-Dec 2019, p.148-49.
Desmarais, Charles. “Cover Story: The Invisible Artist.” San Francisco Chronicle. September 8-14, 2019, Sunday Datebook edition, p.1, 10-13.
Pritikin, Renny. “Vincent Fecteau @ Wattis Institute.” squarecylinder.com, September 17, 2019.