Simulators ⓘ

Artist Statement

Alex Fischer works to represent the time in which he lives.

These images come from what has become the predominant first-world interface: the personal computer and internet capable device is now the primary filter by which broad swaths of people interact and come to know themselves. These technologies have the ability to snake our attentions, beliefs and desires, influencing cognition and our experience of the world.

In order to represent these paradigm shifts, Alex Fischer reifies the low-culture of individualistic habits and persuasions to be in dialogue with the ripe philosophy of high art. His chosen medium of digital collage perfectly compliments his artistic process, by which he paints together images from a collection of digital sources. Each piece concedes to multiple interpretations due to Fischer's choice to obscure the visual space of the image into near abstraction. The narratives encompass characters, scenes, and symbols with all of their ambiguity, insight, and metaphysical baggage on display. The content originates from their adaptations to and the impact of this current age.

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Exhibition Text

ANGELL GALLERY is pleased to present SIMULATORS, an exhibition showcasing new work by eight artists who are at the forefront of contemporary digital art practices — Philippe Blanchard, David Clarkson, Alex Fischer, Brianna Lowe, Alex McLeod, Rafael Ochoa, Jon Rafman and Jillian Ross. The exhibition is on throughout the gallery from November 3 to December 1, 2012. An opening reception will be held on November 3, 1:00 – 4:00 PM. Digital technology has created a revolution in the art world, spawning the first new medium to arise since the birth of the artists' videos in the 1960s. Encompassing an astonishingly wide range of approaches, digital art is now exhibited and collected by major museums, and is sought after by collectors worldwide. Angell Gallery has been a leader in promoting digital art practices, and the artists in Simulators demonstrate the varied possibilities of this new medium, which as a creative tool is both demanding and limitless. Using software with the dexterity with which painters traditionally wielded the brush, the artists in Simulators create digital paintings, videos and animations that intrigue, inspire and engage. The featured artists are each recognized for their unique contributions to this developing medium.

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Alex Fischer reconfigures art world images sampled from the web to construct richly layered, painterly landscape and figural compositions that belie the means of their creation. Ranging from Romantic solitary wanderers to composite faces that suggest a cyber-age Bosch, Fischer's expressive mash-ups are held together by his canny sense of colour and composition. The Toronto-based Fischer graduated from York University with a BFA in Visual Arts, and is represented in noted collections. His work has been featured in Black/Flash, Beautiful/Decay and The Walrus, among others.