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| Self Portriat of the Artist Losing His Marbles, 1965 |
Robert Arneson was born 1930 in Benecia, CA and passed away in 1992 of cancer in the same city. As a practicing artist Areson was a ceramicist who was best known for his self portraits; and what was described as a "raucous" sense of humor. This light hearted way of working made itself evident in his artistic process.
To the right is Self Portriat of the Artist Losing His Marbles. Here, Arneson created himself in bust form then fired it repeatedly until the crack (from which the marbles are spilling from) formed. I don't have to tell any of you that this is not a common or "proper" ceramicist practice. Arneson then glued the marbles in place, which was yet another unorthodox method he commonly employed.
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| Assassination of a Famous Nut Artist, 1972 |
In Assassination of a Famous Nut Atist (and many other self portraits), Arneson used a two part mold of his face then altered the resulting bust with various objects and other clay sculptures of objects. However it wasn't only his self portraits for which he used a mold of his own face, but also for various anonymous sculptures. This explains much of the similarity between much of his portrait work.
Eventually, Robert Arneson went on to working with plaster backed rubber molds which allowed for a wider range of freedom in shifting of the clay, and no doubt enabled him to achieve those caricature expressions which reference his days as a cartoonist.
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| A Hollow Jesture, 1971 |
A Hollow Jesture is a great example of Arneson's caricature-esque style. You can practically feel the unpleasantness of the tongue cutting against the bust's bottom teeth, due to a successful rendering of the neck muscles straining. This piece was also created at the beginning of what was known as Arneson's second wind of self-portraiture. A Hollow Jesture was one of four in what's referred to as the his manifesto titled Goodbye to Stuff.
Arneson's work aimed to critique humanity's shortcomings. The best example of this is Arneson's Portrait of George (Moscone). A quick google of this name will George Moscone as serving as mayor of California in 1978 when Dan White pulled a gun, assassinated Moscone then went on to assassinate Harvey Milk. When Arenson won the commission for the bust he submitted innocuous sketches of Moscone's likeness on a plain pedestal. However in creating the monument, Arneson covered the pedestal in subversive text and imagery hinting at the assassination and event leading up to it. The bust was judged too controversial to be on display, and remained in Arneson's ownership. This piece marked yet another shift in Arenson's career as he now began to view his art as a tool to carry moral and political messages.
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| Portrait of George (Moscone), 1981 |
citation#1:
http://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/artists/robert-arneson-1930-1992/selected-works/4
citation#2:
http://www.artnet.com/galleries/george-adams-gallery/artist-robert-arneson/
citation#3
Robert Arneson: Self Reflections; Exhibition Organized by Gary Garrels and Janet Bishop; Essay by Jonathan Fineberg
citation#4
Robert Arneson: A Retrospective; by Neil Beneza