John with Art
Date1964
Label TextIn the early 1960s Arneson abandoned the Asian traditions he had followed as a young potter in Northern California and began to imitate his immediate surroundings. In keeping with the outspoken, nonconformist stance of the local Beat poets, Arneson took a taboo-breaking approach to the seriousness of mainstream art, seeking new vitality through exuberant color, wacky humor, and raucous realism. The artist knew that his toilet sculptures were a break-through for this cause: "The image is so heavy you can't see it as form. But it was a great challenge to confront something one wasn't supposed to do, and do it. It was the toughest, most powerful work I could make."
Object number82.82
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Exhibition HistoryBuffalo, New York, State University of New York, 1966.
Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, Robert Arneson: A Retrospective, February 8 - April 6, 1986 (Washington, DC, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, April 30 - July 6, 1986; Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, August 1 - September 28, 1986; Oakland, California, Oakland Art Museum, January 1 - March 8, 1987).
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present, September 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997.
Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Made in California 1900 - 2000, October 22, 2000 - February 25, 2001.
Davis, California, Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Out our Way, Nov. 13, 2016 - Mar. 24, 2017.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, June 21 - September 2, 2024.Published ReferencesBishop, Janet C., Fineberg, Jonathan David and Garrels, Gray. Robert Arneson: Self-Reflections. San Francisco, California: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1997; p. 12, reproduced fig. 2.
Weiss, Mike, "Art that Captured a City's Pain." San Francisco, California, The San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 2000
Mayfield, Signe, "The Big Idea: The Maquettes of Robert Arneson." Palo Alto Art Center, 2002
Fineberg, Jonathan. Art Since 1940 Strategies of Being, New York: Prentice Hall Publishers, 1995; pp. 286, 288, reproduced fig. 9.58 and 9.59 (detail).
Drexler Lynn, Martha. American Studio Ceramics: Innovation and Identity, 1940-1979. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015; pp. 196-198, reproduced p. 197.
Fineberg, Jonathan. A Troublesome Subject: The Art of Robert Arneson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013; p. 56, reproduced fig. 2.16-2.17.
Doss, Erika. America: American Art of the 20th-21st Centuries. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017; p.162, reproduced fig. 103.
Iaascs, J. Susan and Sagi Refael. EX-tend EX-cess: Metamorphosis in Clay. Baltimore: Towson University, 2023; pp. 6, reproduced pp. 5-6.Credit LineGift of Manuel Neri
Dimensions34 1/2 x 18 x 25 1/2 in. (87.63 x 45.72 x 64.77 cm)
H. of base: 1 1/2 in.
W. of base: 37 1/2 in.
D. of base: 47 in.
MediumStoneware with glaze
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