untitled

Robert Carston Arneson, artist

1930–1992

untitled, 1975

Portfolio/Series title: Brick Suite

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: terracotta; casting

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 10.9 x 21.8 x 6.7 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 4 5/16 x 8 9/16 x 2 5/8 in

Credit line: Gift of Ronald and Marilynn Grais through Landfall Press

Accession number: 1981.0024

On display: Loo Gallery

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Label texts

Well-known for his ceramic sculptures and numerous self-portraits, Robert Arneson tests the boundaries of self-representation—and even art itself—with this self-portrait that depicts him symbolically rather than pictorially. Despite its appearance, the object is not an ordinary building material, but was cast by Arneson. The brick's physical association with the artist is thus a key component of its function as a self-portrait. Evidence of Arneson’s hand is visible both by his name stamped on top and in the signature inscribed on the side.

Exhibition Label:
“Textures of Interpretation: Meaning and Materiality in Global Contemporary Art," Jan-2010, Sooa Im
Arneson was a leading figure in the Funk Art movement that flourished in northern California in the 1960s and ‘70s. Objects of mass production like bottles and bricks inspired his whimsical ceramic sculptures. As seen in this work, bricks are among the most prevalent themes in Arneson’s ceramic and print works. For him, the brick symbolizes the foundations of Western civilization, and also becomes a medium through which to question the conventional boundary between art and craft.