BALLS CONGO 2003 - Fired and painted clay - Photo by Linda Schlenger
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KenbrPrice Sculpture: A Retrospective
onbrdisplay at the Nasher Sculpture Center
Starting this February 9 through May 12,br2013, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas will host a groundbreakingbrexhibition featuring almost 100 pieces from the prolific ceramic artist, KenbrPrice (1935-2012). Price first rose to prominence in the 1960s for hisbrluminously glazed ovoid forms and suggestive, molten-like masses, whichbrpositioned him within the larger narrative of modern American sculpture. Scheduledbrduring the one-year anniversary of Los Angeles born sculptor’s passingbr(February 24, 2012), the exhibition follows his life’s work while honoring hisbrcreativity, originality and revolutionary art practice.
Ken Price Sculpture: AbrRetrospective moves the artist’s work outside of the realm of craft andbrinto the dialogue of contemporary sculpture. To situate his works within abrsculptural context, the exhibition is installed in reverse chronology. A richbrselection of work from 1959 to 2011 highlights each of the major styles of hisbrprolific career including slumps, rocks, geometrics, cups, eggs and mounds.brWhile Price tended to progress in loose series, the exhibition reviews hisbrcareer in a broader and yet more integrated way, establishing connections andbrlinkages across the years, rather than in simple series.
The exhibition also includes displays of two of the unitsbrfrom his 1970s project Happy's Curios. Named after his wife Happy, Happy'sbrCurios were comprised of large cabinets, filled with between eight and 20 orbrmore ceramics mimicking the style of Mexican folk pottery.
The work from 1995 to 2011 highlights sculptures from thebrlast years of his life. In this period, Price began a new series of mottledbrsculptures for which he has become most well-known. The work's surface isbrcomposed of roughly 70 layers of acrylic paint that he painstakingly sanded,breach stratum uncovered as he varied the pressure of his sanding. The result isbra lyrical composition of colors held together in a layered arrangement that isbranthropomorphic. Eleven works on paper and two large-scale sculptures from 2011brto 2012 are also included in the exhibition.
“This brilliant exhibition demonstratesbrconclusively Ken Price's position as one of the most important sculptors of thebrpast half century,” notes Nasher Sculpture Center Director, Jeremy Strick.
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect, FrankbrO. Gehry, a close friend of Price's since the 1960s, Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective was organized by the LosbrAngeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and, after its presentation at the NasherbrSculpture Center, will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Junebr18 – September 22, 2013.)
The Nasher SculpturebrCenter is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and until 11 p.m.brfor special events. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 forbrstudents and free for members and children 12 and under.