Adrian Saxe, the contemporary Californian ceramist, takes his inspiration from such diverse sources as Chinese bronzes, French porcelain garnitures and American pop culture, to produce pieces which are astonishing and entertaining technical tours de force. Their sumptuous glazes, richly ornate materials and elegant forms are leavened with refreshing doses of humour and post-modernist references to numerous art-historical traditions. A Chinese ritual vessel is topped by a high-heeled shoe; a gilded gourd-shaped jar sprouts Mickey Mouse ears complete with sparkling earstud; an aubergine mutates into a teapot. Occasioned by the 50th birthday of the artist, "The Clay Art of Adrian Saxe" is an survey of his achievement featuring 85 works, many photographed from several angles with enlarged colour views. Authoritative commentary is provided by Martha Drexler Lynn and Jim Collins of Notre Dame University.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Saxe's postmodern ceramics are witty, evocative, sometimes outrageous. The California artist ransacks and reinvents disparate traditions--Chinese porcelain, European courtware, English Wedgewood, etc.--often lacing them with contemporary references. Oil lamps in the shape of cactus sprigs seem to dance and sway in concert with their flames; torso-shaped jars assume anthropomorphic qualities; gourds decorated with gold luster, cubic zirconia or Mickey Mouse ears evoke loopy parallels to Sevres vases or Japanese polychromes. Sometimes an antelope, elephant or ram is perched atop a vessel, symbolic of untamed nature in potent opposition to culturally passed-down forms. This well-illustrated catalogue documents an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Lynn, a curator there, and art historian Collins of Notre Dame University provide an informative commentary on an artist whose pungent works tease and provoke.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book,
By ditzymudgirl "ditzymudgirl" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Clay Art of Adrian Saxe (Hardcover)
Lots of color pictures and explains all there is to know about his artwork up to the publishing date.
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