Artists I Love – Robert Arneson

Moscone

When I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1978 I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Within 3 months of my arrival the Mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone, and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.

Three years later a bust honoring Mayor Moscone, created by the artist I am highlighting today, was unveiled. Here it is.

portraitofgeorge(moscone)-1981
portraitofgeorge(moscone)-1981-detail

The artist is Robert Arneson. Take a close look at the detail picture. Can you see the ‘Twinkie’ and the ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,; on the pedestal? Those referred directly to the assassination, along with the imprint of a gun on the backside. As a result, the bust was rejected by the City Council and not put in City Hall as expected. The other result was Robert Arneson and his art became known throughout California and the nation.

I was at the start of graduate school at San Jose State University and learning about the fantastic artists that practiced in Northern California. There are already two of them in this series, Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn. And another was Robert Arneson.

arneson_book_p35-johnnatsoulasgallery
Robert Arneson, 1930 – 1992

Arneson was a co-founder of the california ‘Funk Art’ movement of the 60s and 70s. He was not a painter but a sculptor using ceramics combined with non-traditional objects. He was breaking the mold of what ceramics should be by moving away from functionality and creating political, social, artistic and personal statements driven by his personality, aesthetics and beliefs.

Self

I thought about not putting a photograph of him in the article because, well, here… take a look at who his subject matter most often is.

kiln Man
Kiln Man
pic-1980-lithograph-photobyrobcorder
‘Pic’, 1980, Lithograph. Photo courtesy of Rob Corder
brickbang_1976
‘Brick Bang, 1976
HeadLamp-1992-bronzewoodbulb
‘Head Lamp’, bronze with wood and bulb, 1992

Humor as Social Commentary

Obviously you can see he is very funny and works that humor into his art. But it’s more than just silly humor. It’s using humor as satire, and farce to make a statement about the social and moral issues of his time.  He is in that long tradition in art that reaches all the way back to Honore Daumier in France, through to William Hogarth in Britain and on to Thomas Nast in America to name a few.  Satirical art that pushed the powers that be by lampooning them has continued into the present day of course, with it’s most tragic manifestation being in the murders of the staff of Charlie Hebdo by Islamic terrorists in France in January, 2015.

It takes courage to make fun of people for a reason, and Arneson didn’t shy away from it. But, as with the great satirical artists before him, he often wasn’t pointing so much at a particular person as he was using that person as an example of a larger corruption, a more widespread idiocy in society or morals.

colonelhyena-1985-ceramiconmetalbase
Colonel Hyena, ceramic on metal base, 1985
Hiroshima Urn
Hiroshima Urn
Nuclear Warhead, 1984
Nuclear Warhead, 1984
'Primary Discharge', 1990, earthenware and glaze
‘Primary Discharge’, 1990, earthenware and glaze

Upending the Classical

He also liked upending the aesthetics of the classical.  To do this he literally just did it. He took something classical, a column. And upended it by adding a head on top, on bottom, falling off, etc.  Of course the head in all these cases was his own.

pedestals-1992-bronze-ucsf
Pedestals, 1992, Bronze, UC San Francisco
laughsbig
Big Laughs, Ceramic
laughsdetail
Temple of Fatal Laffs – detail

 Egg Heads

Towards the end of his life Arneson started doing a series that seemed more melancholy and universal, the ‘egg head’ series.  They are more of a meditation on life and death than anything else, and it makes sense that they would be as Arneson was by this time diagnosed with cancer and was struggling with these monumental issues.

Worth
Worth
seenoevilhearnoevil-1989-eggheadseries-ucdavis
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (Egghead series), 1989, UC Davis

And More

As with any prolific artist there are a lot more pieces you won’t ever see than that you will see. Here are some others I thought worthy of your attention.

wolfhead-1989-bronzeandredwood
Wolf Head (Jackson Pollack), 1989, Bronze and Redwood
sinkingbrick-1966-terracotta
Sinking Brick, 1966, terracotta
brickbang_1976
Brick Bang, 1976
goldenrod-1969-lusterglazedceramic
Golden Rod, 1969, Luster Glazed Ceramic
beniciabench-1991-bronze2
Benicia Bench, 1991, Bronze

Courage of the Artist

What I appreciated about Arneson more than anything else was his determination from early on to be truly himself. What I mean is he withstood pressure to be a classic ceramic artist, to be serious, to be socially active the way others had been before him. But those things weren’t him and he knew it. He stated in his life and in his work, ‘This is who I am and what I do.  These are my creations done as I see fit.’  Which is, after all, the essential job description of an artist.

Resources

To learn more about Arneson and his art world, you can use these resources: 

San Francisco Chronicle – Obituary

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art – Interview and interactive show

UC Davis – ‘Serious Idea Behind That Humor

Funk Ceramics

More Artists

You can see and read the entire ‘Artists I love’ series here or by going through the list below.

2018

2016

2015

2014

2012/2013

2011/2012


Writing by Marty Coleman

Artwork by Robert Arneson

Some artwork photographed by Rob Corder.  You can see a much larger collection of Arneson’s work at Corder’s flickr page as well as extensive photographs from many art museums.