One to watch: Robert Arneson
Christie’s specialist Amelia Manderscheid describes Robert Arneson as ‘The father of the Ceramic Funk movement’
Born in California in 1930, Robert Arneson became a key member of a group of artists joined to contest the non-objectivity of Abstract Expressionism. Adopting the group’s focus on figuration — combined with the quirk of ‘funk’ – Arneson produced expressive ceramic works, known for their capacity to shock and provoke.
‘Arneson’s work often incorporates everyday objects — a trophy, a urinal or a telephone — which the sculptor combines with sexual body parts’ says Manderscheid. ‘He is an artist who has a particularly strong grasp of “shock value”.’
Robert Arneson, Heart Memorial Trophy, 1965.
Glazed ceramic. 21 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 ins.
Robert Arneson, Guardians of the Secret II, 1990. Glazed ceramic and mixed media. 86 x 119 x 26 ins.
Particularly controversial works include Arneson’s Portrait of George (1981), a ceramic bust commissioned to be a public tribute to assassinated San Francisco mayor George Moscone. The subject of public outcry, the bust featured five bloody bullet holes – and was eventually returned to the artist.
Work by Robert Arneson, who died in 1992, features in collections of museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of Art. For Manderscheid, though, he is an artist who ‘has been integral in the promotion of ceramics beyond the arts and craft applications’.
Bronze and redwood; edition of 3, 1 AP. 83 x 73 x 36 ins.
Top Image: Robert Arneson, Delta Bob, 1972. Porcelain and mixed media. 24 x 13 x 15 ins.
All images ©Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA, New York. Courtesy Brian Gross Fine Art.