Peter Voulkos

Peter Voulkos

Cherubini

Sculpture

1957

Glazed Stoneware, 35 x 21 x 21 inches

Peter Voulkos is a master of handling clay. In the 1950's, Voulkos was the leader of the post-war American ceramics movement, "Revolution in Clay." His abstract and expressionistic style in clay sets him apart from various other ceramic sculptors (Brumer, artscenecal.com). In one of his pieces, which is being shown in the Dirt on Delight exhibit in the Walker Art Center, Cherubini, or also just known as "Sculpture" shows off Voulkos skill. The largest forms in that compromise the structure of the statue are three large spheres placed one on top of the other. They are placed, to where it gives a hint of a three balled snowman. On the top of the statue is a spiked, narrow, tall strip. Giving the snowman a look like it has a mohawk. On the sides of the top sphere are these twisting spiked extentions. They twist and turn out of the side of the sphere, just on what would be the flat part of the mohawk, twisting and turning like a spiked horn on the left side of the statue. There is another spiked horn coming out toward the back of the top sphere on the snowman. In what appears to be the front on the top ball, is a hole. That hole is like if you were in the tundra surrounded by cold snow and everywhere you look you see whiteness except for these two caves. These two caves whose entrance is as black as the snow is white. Underneath the top empty hole, where the top two spheres merge together, there is a bended spiked band. It curves into an arc, like a big droopy mustache, with spikes. Right below that, is another empty hole, like a belly button. Coming right out of the belly button, is the same design as the droopy mustache. It comes out going all the way to the floor like ribbon cascading down to the floor. On the sides of the middle ball are these flat slabs, much like the ribbon looking slab. The ones on the side travel up to the top sphere like arms touching the side of what would be the head. On the very bottom sphere are these spikes that jut out of  the snowman like it has a jester's hat on the bottom of it, instead of on the top by the "head". 

My interpretation of this piece is that life is never how you expect it. No matter how much you try to make sense of what is going on, something will always through you in a loop. You just have to keep journeying to different locations and see what else life can offer you. 

Looking at this statue by an instrumental point of view, and from my interpretation of it. I would think that it has a purpose; that it makes the viewer think. It makes the viewer think about what is going on. However, it doesn't make the viewer think about the problems that are happening in the world, or anything of the like. It just makes the viewer think about what this piece is all about. Makes the viewer try to make sense on what this piece represents, why it was created. So I believe, instrumental wise, it is a failure. I do however, feel that this piece is a success formalistically wise however, because it seems to have a really strong sense of "art for art's sake." It has potential aesthetic appeal; however, I dislike this work of art. I personally don't find it aesthetically appealing. 

Brumer, Andy. 

http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1999/Articles1299/PVoulkosB.html 

10/29/2009.

Robert Arneson

John Figure

1965

glazed stonware

In the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, one of John Arneson's glazed stoneware is being displayed. His "John Figure" is a ceramic statue of a toilet juxtaposed with a human face and a female body placed on a tile floor which has foot prints and a foot walking away from the toilet. My interpretation of his surreal ceramic is that no matter how crappy your life seems right now, it can only get worse. You could be trapped inside of the toilet never escaping. Crying as loud as you can, but no one will be able to help you out. If you escape it, your path would be visible where ever you go. Though you escaped your problems, a part of you would still be stuck though it. You would never be gone completely of that problem, you will always have the memory of the struggle and the pain. 

Tartan Dancer 2

Rebecca Warren's Tartan Dancer 2 shows gorgeous mastery of bronze. The small facets in the sculpture go in and out giving the sculpture an illusion of a coral reef deep down in the blue ocean waiting for the divers to explore it. The front of the sculpture, or what I perceive as the front, reaches up at what appears to be a 60 degree angle as if the structure is reaching up toward the sky. At the tip of the outstretched arm, it gets broader and appears as if a ball could be placed inside of that tip. As if the statue is trying to grab something in the sky with it's claw like hand. The bottom of the coral reef textured statue, the base has an almost rhinoceros look to it. With this one little bump that is like the rhino's horn broke off, and there is a small indent that Warren placed which appears to be the eye ridge of the almost implied rhino. The back of the statue appears like a tumor with a distorted, elongated head and arms protruding out of the tumor. With the elongated almost toucan head and the little long strips that could be perceived as abstracted limbs, does not seem to be part of Rebecca Warren's usual creations. The Tartan Dancer 2, (again in my perception) to be a female dancer of the Scottish clans. Majority of Warren's pieces of art portray the exaggerated female form (Ruf). However, I fail to see the female form in the Tartan Dancer 2.

Tartan Dancer 2

Rebecca Warren

2005-2008

Bronze

25.2 X 15.4 X 27.2 inches

Collection of Jay Ecklund

Displayed at Midway Contemporary Art

Ruf, Beatrix. About Rebecca Warren and her art. Web. 2003-2009. http://www.saatchigallery.co.uk/artists/rebecca_warren_about.htm