Robert Arneson

[Andy Clift]

aclift:

{{Infobox Artist
| bgcolour = #6495ED
| name = Robert Arneson
| image = Arneson artist.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = "California Artist," by Robert Arneson, [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]]
| birthname =
| birthdate = {{birth date|1930|9|4}}
| location = [[Benicia, California]]
| deathdate = {{death date and age|1992|11|2|1930|9|4}}
| deathplace =
| nationality = [[USA|American]]
| field = [[Sculpture]]
| training =
| movement = [[Funk art|Funk movement]]
| works =
| patrons =
| influenced by =
| influenced =
| awards =
}}

'''Robert Carston Arneson''' (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992) was an American [[sculpture|sculptor]] and professor of [[Ceramic art|ceramics]] in the Art department at [[UC Davis]] for four decades.''California Death Records'' (The California Department of Health Services) [http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/...th/search.cgi]

== Career ==
Arneson was born in [[Benicia, California]], then a small blue-collar town. He graduated from Benicia High School and spent much of his early life as a cartoonist for a local paper. Arneson studied art education in [[Oakland, California]] and went on to receive an MFA in 1958.

Starting in the 1960s, Arneson and several other California artists began to abandon the traditional manufacture of functional items in favor of using everyday objects to make confrontational statements. The new movement was dubbed " [[Funk art|Funk Art]]," and Arneson is considered the "father of the ceramic [[Funk art|Funk movement]]."

Arneson used common objects in his work, which included both ceramic sculptures and drawings. He appeared in many of his own pieces — as a chef, a man picking his nose, a jean-jacketed hipster in sunglasses.

Even his [http://eggheads.ucdavis.edu Eggheads] bear a self-resemblance. Among the last works Arneson completed before his death, the last of the Eggheads were installed on campus at [[UC Davis]] in 1994. The controversial pieces continue to serve as a source of interest and discussion on the campus, even inspiring a [http://eggheadblog.ucdavis.edu campus blog] by the same name.

One of Arneson's most famous and controversial works is a bust of [[George Moscone]], the mayor of [[San Francisco]] who was assassinated in 1978. Inscribed on the pedestal of the bust are words representing events in Moscone's life, including his assassination: the words "Bang Bang Bang Bang" and "[[Harvey Milk]] Too!" are visible in on the front of the pedestal.

Arneson died after a long battle with cancer.

== In collections around the world ==
Arneson's fame is far-reaching, and his works can be found in public and private collections around the world, including the [[Chicago Art Institute]], [[The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu]], the [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]] (Washington, D.C.), the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Kyoto, Japan), the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]], the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]] (New York City) and the U.S. Embassy in Yeravan, Armenia. His creations are also at the Lowe Art Museum in [[Coral Gables, Florida]].

The [http://nelsongallery.ucdavis.edu/ Nelson Gallery] at [[UC Davis]], where Arneson was a faculty member, owns 70 of the artist's works, including The Palace at 9 a.m., which is currently on display in the gallery. The {{convert|70|sqft|m2|adj=on}} earthenware sculpture, a depiction of his former Davis residence, is considered among his most famous sculptures. Several of his etchings and lithographs also are on display in the library.[http://verisimilitudo.com/arneson/ ''A tribute to Robert Carston Arneson'']

== Gallery ==

Image:'The Colonel is at it Again', --lithograph-- by --Robert Arneson--, 1980.jpg|'The Colonel is at it Again', [[lithograph]] by Robert Arneson, 1980
Image:'Forged Earth', glazed stoneware sculpture by --Robert Arneson--, 1989, private collection.jpg|'Forged Earth', glazed stoneware sculpture by Robert Arneson, 1989, private collection

Image:'Mother Dürer', glazed earthenware by Robert Arneson, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|'Mother Dürer', glazed [[earthenware]] by Robert Arneson, 1979, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]


==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://hirshhorn.si.edu/education/modern/modern2.html Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]
* [http://eggheads.ucdavis.edu/ Robert Arneson's Eggheads]
* [http://eggheadblog.ucdavis.edu Egghead Blog]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arneson, Robert}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:American sculptors]]
[[Category:American printmakers]]
[[Category:California College of the Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Artists from California]]
[[Category:University of California, Davis faculty]]
[[Category:People from Benicia, California]]


More...

[riyanjason]

But there's another little Easter egg to look for. It's one that the curator himself says he didn't know about until the work was brought out of storage. Take a peek just behind Elvis's left shoulder on the back side of the sculpture, and you'll find that Arneson left a little heart, as Perry says, "right where Elvis's heart would be.