Marc Vischer

Born, Montana, USA, also lived in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area, now residing on the high prairie of Southern Montana surrounded by wide, open spaces.

Over the years I have enjoyed using a variety of mediums in a variety of ways, from photography to painting, from realistic to abstraction. From small, intimate objects to larger than life works on unstretched canvas. I enjoy taking a big reality and condensing it down to a few small tokens or blowing up the small and mundane so as to be unavoidable to the viewer. My early photographs were manipulated to look like abstract paintings and some of the realistic paintings I’ve done over the years look like they are photographs.

Recently, I’ve turned to painting loosely geometric abstractions. Sometimes a highly textured surface is built up layer after layer and the final layers are essentially controlled accidents coliding with the underlying shapes/textures. There is also a play between the observed surface in contrast to what appears to be a distance, a field, a void that gives the whole painting a three dimensional feel.

If I had to briefly sum up my approach to art making, it would be to view it as a self imposed puzzle that is a challenge and eventually a joy t...

While I attended college art classes in California, I consider myself basically "self taught", an autodidact. Some famous autodidactic artists/inventors include: Frida Khalo, the Wright Brothers, Vincent van Gogh. Yoko Ono was classically trained as a musician, but became an influential visual artist.

To teach oneself, you’ve got to switch back and forth by being your own worst critic and best supporter of your efforts. The challenge is to know which stance will be the most beneficial in any given moment. To bring a work to its fullest potential, a person must challenge themselves and see a variety of positions. I also worked for a contemporary art museum as registrar for twelve years meeting a wide variety of artists and museum professionals.

Individual Exhibitions:
1995, Northerlies, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana
1993, Marc Vischer-Recent Works, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming
1989, Marc Vischer - Stations, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
1987, Artificial Horizon, Northcutt Steele Gallery, Montana State University, Billings, Montana
1986, POST-FRONTIER, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.
1986, Marc Vischer - Recent Works, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana
1985, The Empty Quarter, Recent Works by Marc Vischer, Custer County Art Center, Miles City, Montana

Selected Group Exhibitions:
1989, Northwest Annual Exhibition. COCA, Center On Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington.
1991, Big Sky / Bold Wind. Boulder Art Center, Boulder Colorado
1987, Annual Exhibition, AAO Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1986, Alexandria Museum, Alexandria Louisiana
1986, 1078 Gallery, Chico, California
1984, Montana - New Directions. Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana