Robert Arneson at the Des Moines Art Center, IA

Robert Arneson's monumental sculpture Impression of the Artist as an Incorporeal Witness to the Center of the Universe, 1979, is currently on view at the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA. The work was acquired by the museum earlier this year.

This work is one of two large floor sculptures that Arneson created in 1979, comprising nearly 50 individual ceramic pieces which form a literal impression of the artist. Here, Arneson considers his own mortality and place in art history through the impression of his body into clay and the subsequent absence of a physical form, while directly referencing Leonardo DaVinci’s drawing of the Vetruvian Man.

Impression of the Artist is on long-term view at the museum. Find more information here.