Ken Price’s sculptures are known for their carefully worked surfaces,
variety of textures, and rich colors, which are always integral to his
forms. He is best known for his abstract shapes constructed from fired clay.
Typically, they are not glazed, but intricately painted with multiple
layers of bright acrylic paint and then sanded down to reveal the colors
beneath. A lifelong surfer and seminal member of 1960’s Los Angeles art
world, Price used industrial lacquers developed for cars and surfboards
in his earliest work. In Bulgogi the biomorphic shapes throb with
an iridescence that reminds one of sculptures Price exhibited at the
Ferus Gallery in the 60s. Despite the similarity, a lifetime of
experimenting with these complex finishes has resulted in something
completely new.
In the late 1990s, Price began a new series of mottled sculptures, for
which he has become most well-known. The work’s surface is composed of
roughly seventy layers of paint that he painstakingly sanded, each
stratum uncovered as he varied the pressure of his sanding. The result
is a lyrical composition of colors held together in a layered
arrangement that is anthropomorphic.
Sexy, bulbous forms are painted black, layered with lush acrylic colors
and then sanded to reveal the under-paint in richly textured spots of
brilliant hues. Some sculptures carry 70 thin coats of paint.
Ken Price, L. Red, 1963, ceramic painted
with lacquer and acrylic on wood base, San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Evelyn and
Walter Hass Jr. Fund Purchase, 82.155, © Ken Price,
photo © Fredrik Nilsen
OPPOSITE TOP: Ken Price, Zizi, 2011, fired
and painted clay, LACMA, purchased with
funds provided by the Modern and
Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund and
gift of Matthew Marks, © Ken Price,
photo © Fredrik Nilsen
