Anne Fischer

A biography

Anne Fischer (b. 1963) is a sculptor and designer whose work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe and Japan. A graduate of the Cooper Union in New York, where she won the M.S. Vivo Award for Excellence in Drawing, Fischer is especially interested in using her extensive experience as a draftsman to manipulate the textures and unique characteristics of her materials. Her exceptional attention to minute detail allows her to incorporate text and figurative drawings into even the smallest objects and jewelry. Over the years, she has developed innovative techniques for using wood, metal, plaster, wire and other media to create a wide range of sculptures, works on paper, cast-metal jewelry and original furniture.

Her sculptural work includes a series of graceful and masterfully engineered figures created by “drawing” in three dimensions using delicate, light-gauge wire and embellishing the work with small, cut scraps of shiny or colorful found materials.

In 2001, Fischer began creating Cantos: The Rings of Hell and Heaven, a series of works inspired by Dante Alighieri’s poem, The Divine Comedy. The poem’s elaborate formal structure traces a pilgrimage through the rings of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. In the Cantos series, Fischer translates Dante’s narrative construction of the poem into sculptural objects that evolve from one another. For the first Cantos piece, Fischer carved an excerpt from the poem in bas-relief, imbuing the ring with the essence of Dante’s sublime landscape and giving the words a physical starting point for the progression of the series.

Each meticulously hand-carved original in the series is reproduced on an
individual basis using the lost wax process and is cast in 18k gold, sterling silver or a combination of those two metals.

Born in Vevey, Switzerland and raised in New York and New Jersey, Fischer
currently lives and works in Union City, New Jersey.