
Fei Disbrow has been in numerous solo and juried shows thro
ughout
the US and Canada. She earned her MFA in Sculpture from
Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. While living in Portland,
OR,
Fei
was awarded a public art grant from RACC, and a residency
with the Intermedia Department at PNCA. In Toronto, she w
as
awarded the MST Bronze Award at the Emerging Sculptors
Exhibition, at the Canadian Sculpture Centre, and was granted
a
term in the Guest Renter Program at Open Studios. In 2015, Fei
was an artist in residence at the Banff Centre of the A
rts. She
currently is a Board member at Access Gallery. Her work resides
in the Portland Art Museum print collection, in addition to
being part
of both corporate and private collections.
The interdisciplinary practice of multimedia artist Fei Disbrow is rooted in process. Employing familiar materials such as Tyvek, Mylar, paper, fabric, thread, buttons and grommets, Disbrow screen prints, collages and sews literal images and forms together, adapting them into organic and lyrical shapes. Her deliberate use of void and negative space conjures an anthropomorphized, abstracted residue that implies a corporeal presence.
Mutation is key to Disbrow's process methodology and conceptual framework. As a body of work progresses, she extracts elements from one series and mutates them further in the next, cropping, adding, shifting scale. Each compositional mass floats in negative space, as a notion might hover around in one's mind, akin to thought bubbles-in-waiting. Viewers are invited to circumnavigate the flat and multi-dimensional aspects of these compositions and impose their own narratives onto the work.
Whether through the development of familiar, dissected corporeal forms or through the use of materials that evoke the body, Disbrow's work connects altered notions of the body and its component parts to the space(s) in which it exists. The result is compelling, at once evocative of something abstracted yet somehow familiar. Her compositions live in the realm of the familiar gone astray: they challenge one's sense of self by rooting in the cellars of the mind, sparking points of connection and illuminating curiosity.
A B O U T T H E A R T I S T
Fei Disbrow has been exhibited in numerous solo and juried shows throughout the United States and Canada. She earned her MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. While living in Portland, Oregon, Fei was awarded a public art grant from RACC, and a residency with the Intermedia Department at PNCA. In Toronto, she was awarded the MST Bronze Award for the Emerging Sculptors Exhibition at the Canadian Sculpture Centre and was granted a term in the Guest Renter Program at Open Studios. In 2015, Fei was an artist in residence at the Banff Centre of the Arts. She currently serves as a board member at Access Gallery. Her work resides in the Portland Art Museum print collection, in addition to being part of both corporate and private collections.