Guy T. Fisher

( 1949 - 2002 )

"The Secret Language Of An Unfit Candidate"

KM art / September 10 - October 16,2004

Guy T. Fisher died in 2002 while awaiting a liver transplant that might never have come. After returning to Chicago from Vietnam, he worked as a house-painter, drank his share of beer, dabbled with hard drugs, had his religious moments, and above all made art. He made over four hundred paintings, and a group of like-minded friends is now busy cataloging the work that was almost tossed out after Guy's death. With this same group of friends he had had a group exhibit called "The Hill Series" at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago in 1984. This was based on an abandoned industrial site, a brickyard that then became a landfill. When the landfill ended, it returned to nature as a landmark on the horizon. A perfect subject for Post Industrial Pleine Air Impressionism!

"The Hill" was only one of at least 20 series of paintings, all methodically worked out, of which 15 are represented in this exhibit of 45 works. He and the friends he made art with shared a series of studios, first in the South Loop area and then in their native suburb of Blue Island, in an old icehouse stuffed with finished and unfinished art and raw materials. Found materials are a theme with this group, whose art runs toward the Impressionistic: old pallets and odd-shaped plywood, framed with old lathing from demolished walls; painting tarps, tent material, awnings, even curtains and burlap bags, often stretched over abandoned screen windows, all painted with house paint and auto enamel. These are the materials from which Guy made his art.

Below is a small sampling from two of the series, "Der Hill" and "Roman Church".