Description

Ron Nagle (1939, USA) 

Untitled
1981
Earthenware; ht. 4.75, wd 2.75, dp. 2.75 in.

In this work by Bay Area artist, Ron Nagle, one can feel, almost palpably, the influence of the pre-War and early post-War stucco houses, architecture that inform his surfaces and, to a lesser extent, his shapes. It has the rough texture of what Nagle calls "Stucco Deco". But that is just a starting point. Just as his surfaces are layered again and again in china paint (up to twenty trips to the kiln) so too are his visual references. One sees the kind of splatter pattern that was popular in linoleum and plastic surfaces on aluminum kitchen tables during the early 1960s. The drips hark back to the Momoyama tea bowls of 16th century Japan. The palette is an almost perfect expression of postmodernism that was beginning to appear in American art when this cup was made. His approach to that surface is not unlike that of building color and depth on a hot rod. This is an important and iconic example of his art.

Exhibited: Ceramics in Conversation: 2010 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, 2010.

Reference: Elliot, Moyra. Ceramics in Conversation. Taipei: Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, 2010. 

Condition

Excellent original condition.