Robert Arneson: Bronze Self-Portraits and Drawings

This summer, the George Adams Gallery will show selected works from the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park's recent Robert Arneson: Bronze Self-portraits and Drawings exhibition.  The George Adams Gallery show includes five large bronze sculptures and six related works on paper. It is accompanied by a color catalogue documenting Arneson's work in bronze after 1980 and includes essays by Rachel Lafo and Leo Mazow.

While Arneson is perhaps best known for his work in ceramic, he in fact created over 120 works in bronze between 1965 and 1992.  Arneson first became interested in the medium while teaching at the University of California, Davis; between 1963 and 1965 he made approximately 20 unique cast works at the University's foundry, working alongside artists such as Tio Giambruni, Steve Kaltenbach, Bruce Nauman and William T. Wiley. Arneson stopped casting after 1965, but his interest revived in 1980 after meeting Mark Anderson of the Walla-Walla Foundry.  From 1980 until his death in 1992, Arneson  made over 95 editioned and unique works at Walla-Walla, including his only full-figure sculpture.

Among the sculptures featured in the current exhibition are Bowee-Wowee, a self-portrait as a dog from 1982, A Head with Little Pain from 1991 which alludes to Arneson's experience with chemotherapy, and I have My Eye On Me Endlessly, a tongue-in-cheek homage to Brancusi's Endless Column completed the year of Arneson's death. Also in the exhibition is Benicia Bench, 1991, a cast of the sculpture commissioned by the city of Benicia, California - where Arneson was born and died - accompanied by a series of  working drawings.


Exhibition Checklist


1. Wedging the Head, 1988
mixed media on paper
48 x 31 3/4 inches
RAd 40

2. A-Head with Little Pain, 1991
bronze, 2/3
33 1/2 x 31 x 33 1/2 inches
RAs 68.02

3. Untitled, 1992
conte on paper
47 1/4 x 31 1/2 inches
RAd 49

4. I Have My Eyes On Me Endlessly, 1992
bronze, 1/3
80 x 12 x 12 inches
RAs 54.01

5. Head With Board, 1990
conte, charcoal on paper
44 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches
RAd 38

6. Benicia Bench, 1991
bronze, 2/3
35 1/2 x 76 x 22 inches
RAs 48.03

7. Benicia Bench, 1990
pastel, charcoal, mixed media on paper
30 1/4 x 44 1/2 inches
RAd 48

8. Poised to Infinity, 1991
bronze, 2/3
80 x 38 x 28 1/2 inches
RAs 52.02

9. Lousing Up the Space, 1988
conte, charcoal on paper
31 3/4 x 48 inches
RAd 39

10. Bowee-Wowee, 1982
bronze, 2/3
34 1/2 x 17 x 32 inches
RAs 102.02

11. Study of Man With Board on Head, 1990
conte, oil stick on paper
31 3/4 x 16 inches
RAd 37

12. California Artist, 1985
woodcut, 13/15
40 x 30 inches
RAr 11