Provocative work of sculptor comes in all shapes, sizes

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Reviewer

•	Big Idea: The Maquettes of Robert Arneson Friends and Enemies: Photographs by Julie Moos Through Nov. 3 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays Noon to 4 p.m. Sundays The Contemporary Museum, Makiki Heights 526-0232

The exhibit, organized by the Palo Alto Art Center, features maquettes made between 1964 and 1992, which range in size from two to 14 inches. Also included are full-scale bronze sculptures and ceramic sculptures including "Doyen" and "Up Against It" from the museum's collection. If you have ever wandered the museum grounds, you already know how Arneson combined classical art and comic traditions in works such as the "Temple of Fatal Laffs" (the one of the man who, presumably, laughed so hard his head fell off a pedestal). This piece was commissioned by the museum and is permanently installed near the museum café.

Arneson's career began with the dream of becoming a cartoonist. He went from a grade of "D" in his first ceramics course in junior college to his final legacy as one of the leading ceramic sculptors in the United States. He died of cancer in 1992.

The exhibit begins poetically with "Up Against It" (a full-scale bust of the artist, his face pushed up against an imaginary wall) and ends in "Offering" (1992), one of his last pieces, a bronze maquette for a larger work, wherein Arneson offers his severed head in his outstretched hand.

In a voyeuristic exposé of the workings of his creative process (sketches, journals, maquettes), it becomes clear that the often raunchy and provocative side of Arneson is underscored with the gravity of his sensitivity to the injustices he perceived in the world. He often used his own image as a model to communicate his irreverent and humorous experiences of human fallacy.

Arneson addressed the Holocaust in "Toaster" (1965), chemotherapy in "Chemo I" and "Chemo II" (1992), nuclear weapons in "Sarcophagus" (1984-85) and politics in "Portrait of George" (1981), to mention just a few.

"Bowee Wowee" (1982), a full-scale bronze sculpture, is a jocular portrait of the artist aging as cigar-smoking dog surrounded by a variety of sculpted dog turds.

Arneson's prototypes contain references to Vincent Van Gogh, Picasso, Marcel DuChamp, Francis Bacon, Leonardo Da Vinci and poets and writers that interested him.

On display in one corridor of the museum is a fraction of the 80 pieces Arneson created in a 10-year period in homage to the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollack. "Model for Boots with Echo" (1987) is a heart-rending example of Arneson's exquisite sense of perceptive detail. (See the Hans Namuth photograph of Pollack's studio in his "Study for Boots of JP.")

A family guide is available at the entrance of the exhibit (published by the Palo Alto Art Center); it is entertaining and educational for children.

The museum's video of the artist at work is not to be missed. In it Arneson shares a credo which proved essential to his life as a controversial artist: "Trust Yourself."

Julie Moos

If you were randomly selected to be photographed sitting next to a friend or enemy, and directed to look straight at the camera without interacting with this person, would the photograph betray to the viewer something about that relationship?

Concerned with the violence at Columbine High School in Colorado, Julie Moos sought permission from students, parents and school administrators to photograph students in a private high school in Birmingham, Ala. The life-sized photographs focus on the intensity of their interpersonal relationships. In the riddles they pose, they also encourage a response from the viewer. Who are these teens? What do their clothes, hair styles, jewelry, posture and facial expressions reveal about them? How would you appear in a similar photograph?Ê

Whatever judgments we have are clear indications of our own prejudices, tolerances and intolerances, and degree of compassion for others.

•	Hawaii Craftsmen: The 35th Annual Statewide Juried Exhibition Through Oct. 31 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays Academy Art Center 532-8700

Out of a statewide total of 277 entries by 101 artists, 84 entries by 57 artists were accepted. This year there is less participation from the Neighbor Islands.

The entries selected by the juror were the pieces that satisfied his overall vision for the show. For him, they crossed the lines of craft into art and demonstrated a mastery and real working knowledge of the materials.

"I designed the installation to achieve a sense of balance without a sense of symmetry," Marasa said. "I did not want to look through work at other work." "Oculus," a cast glass and bronze sculpture by Jason Minami, became the central focus for the installation.

Marasa selected two artists for the Awards of Excellence cash prizes: Edward Love for "Wings" and "Fountain Head," two boxes made of flawlessly matched woods, and Lee Berg for "Meteorite Knife," "Folding Knife" and "Cable Knife" — remarkable knives with handles of ivory, ebony and bone. Semi-precious stones are elegantly channel-set in the center of the blades.

Guest artists Pam Barton, Esther Shimazu, Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross exhibit impressive examples of their craft mastery.

So many endearing, humorous and memorable works are displayed in the exhibit that it is difficult to choose favorites. However, the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts chose theirs, purchasing Barry Ching's "Suspended Animation" (Norfolk pine), Yukio Ozaki's "Fractured Paradise" (colored porcelain), and the collaborative works of Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross, "Tendrils" and "Night Walk — Kilauea" (blown glass.)