Description

Ron Nagle (1939, USA) 

Thataway
1999
Earthenware; ht. 3.75, wd. 4.75 in.

The title of this piece brings into focus another part of Nagle's talent, the musician and lyricist. Language to Nagle is almost as plastic as clay (if not more so) and the titles of his work are clues, riddles or simply laugh-out-loud humor. Thataway is the perfect example of the latter, funny when seeing two "fingers" pointing in opposite directions but at the same time a sly comment on ambiguity. The work was one of five small works by Nagle that were shown in Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay, one of the most controversial and highly publicized ceramic exhibitions in recent times. In a rave review of the exhibition in the New York Times by Roberta Smith, Nagle was singled out, "Ron Nagle's small, cuplike forms continue the exquisiteness, alternating between geometric and organic, hard-edged and floppy, blushing tints and blaring colors. These works should simply be called very richly colored sculpture. They look so replete that Mr. Nagle's greatness itself is one of the show's most valuable lessons."

Exhibited: Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2009.

References: Schaffer, Ingrid, Porter, Jenelle and Adamson, Glenn. Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, 2009 (work illus p. 68).

Smith, Roberta. "Crucible of Creativity, Stoking Earth Into Art," New York Times, March 19, 2009. 

Condition

Excellent original condition.