Contessa

Designer Ron Nagle American

Not on view

Topped by various openings, Ron Nagle's objects could at first glance seem like functional cups or vases. Closer inspection, however, reveals that they are often bottomless, too small or too fanciful for practical use. Such twists allow Nagle to indulge fantasies of shape, texture, and color. An undulating edge animates the foot of Contessa, as if it might slide away like a slug. Funky, graphic coloring and off-kilter, earthen, or fleshlike surfaces echo the fanciful mix-and-match of other prominent artists, from Milan’s Memphis Group and Chicago’s Hairy Who to the California ceramicists Ken Price and Peter Shire.

Contessa, Ron Nagle (American, born San Francisco, 1939), Glazed earthenware

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