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Ceramic art is on fire! Once shunned by the fine art establishment as mere craft, works in clay are now recognized as fine art and collected by major museums around the world. Collectors are taking note as interest and prices for top quality works are on the rise.

As a younger generation of ceramic artists abounds, a debt is owed to two giants of clay—Peter Voulkos and Robert Arneson. These West Coast artists elevated non-utilitarian ceramics to new levels of personal expression, forever breaking the boundaries between craft and art.

We are proud to announce that our art curator Michelle Bello has selected two outstanding works by these masters as a complement to this year’s SF Design Week’s keynote conversation on ceramic art. Michelle will be in the showroom this Thursday, February 17, from 11am to 3pm, to answer questions about these pieces, along with other exciting new works from various artists.

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Peter Voulkos, Untitled (Charger Series), 1973
Fired stoneware with porcelain push-throughs
19 inches diameter x 3.75 inches depth

Few artists have changed a medium as markedly as Peter Voulkos, a charismatic man with a voracious appetite for experimentation. Voulkos emerged in the early 1950s at a time when ceramic artists were searching out different craft traditions, especially Japanese folk. This interest endured throughout his life and over time he made a series of large plates fired in an anagama, a Japanese wood-fired kiln which operates at high temperatures and produces a richly textured surface. He would then add more texture by roughing up the chargers and creating a vocabulary of physical actions and forms that are now fixed in the language of contemporary clay including pass-throughs, which are knobs of porcelain forcefully pushed by hand through a stoneware piece.

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Peter Voulkos, Untitled (Charger Series)
Sloan Miyasato Fine Art gallery view

In the summer of 1953 Voulkos taught a course at the experimental Black Mountain College. There he met artists who were soon to be legends including Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage. Then he went to New York City where he met Abstract Expressionist painters Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. The spontaneity and scale of the New York School influenced his ceramic works. He began pushing limits and abandoned any semblance of utility, toward progressively larger pieces weighing as much as 150 pounds. He unveiled these rough, gouged, slashed, and expressive clay works in Los Angeles shocking the ceramics world.

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Peter Voulkos

Voulkos’s ceramics have since been exhibited and collected internationally in major institutions including MOMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Smithsonian, Stedelijk Amsterdam, SFMOMA, and National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. A longtime and influential educator, he eventually established the renowned ceramics program at the University of California, Davis. While at Davis, his students were allowed to make a teapot, “but only if it didn’t work.”

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Robert Arneson, Fired Earth, 1973
High fired stoneware
12 x 10.5 x 7 inches

Robert Arneson began his interest in art as a high school student by drawing cartoons and painting with watercolors, interests he would pursue throughout his career. His early teaching position required him to teach ceramics, not a medium he had mastered, which led him to take ceramics classes including one by Edith Heath. He was soon hooked, earning his MFA at Mills College. Although he made very respectable thrown pots, he grew increasingly interested in the Abstract Expressionist movement taking hold in the art world. He was also influenced by the works of Peter Voulkos in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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Robert Arneson, Fired Earth
Sloan Miyasato Fine Art gallery view

After turning his back on traditional ceramics, he was offered a teaching position in 1962 at the University of California, Davis. His non-functional works focused on the absurdity of everyday objects and life. Often humorous, his figurative sculptures offered visual puns and sarcastic observations. He made colorful self-portraits and portraits of his art friends. Distant and left out from the East Coast Art establishment, Arneson and many of his fellow Californian artists felt free to make the art they wanted. This new art movement was dubbed Funk Art and Arneson is its father. His clay department established its first ceramic sculpture program and the studio buildings of TB9 became a hotbed of expressive ceramics.

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Robert Arneson

Later in his career Arneson applied his dark humor and biting sarcasm to address political issues of the time including nuclear war and the arms race. He was also thrust into the national spotlight in 1981 when he was commissioned to make a commemorative bust of San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone who had been assassinated. His colorful bust with bloody bullet holes caused an uproar in a city still grieving the loss of a popular mayor. It is now in the collections of SFMOMA. His works are also held in the many significant collections including MOMA, NY, Whitney Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Crocker Art Museum, Yale University, Stedelijk Museum, Phillips Collection, Oakland Museum, and National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.

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Don’t miss out on getting your favorite works before our big move! After 42 years in the San Francisco Design Center’s historic Showplace, we’re moving across the street to our sister building—the Galleria. To lighten our load, we’re offering reduced prices on most of our artworks and, as work sells, we’ll replenish any blank walls with more great art. “Even our newest paintings are flying out the doors into collectors’ homes throughout California and across the country,” says our art curator Michelle Bello.

CONTACT US:
2 Henry Adams St. 300
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-431-1465

Kaci Smith
kacis@sloanm.com

Tommy Talbot
tommyt@sloanm.com

Curator:
Michelle Bello
415.317.5975
michelle@michellebello.com

Marc Katano, Crow Flies, 2017, Acrylic on Nepalese Paper, 49 x 39 Inches

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Michelle Bello, founder and curator of Sloan Miyasato’s fine art program, has pulled out all the stops to create an amazing exhibition for this year’s Art Market San Francisco. Tending Our Fragile Earth will showcase work that honors and conserves the splendors of our natural world or brings attention to the significant challenges facing our earth today. Our roster of talented artists includes David Kimball Anderson, Miya Ando, Catherine Courtenaye, Diane DallasKidd, Randal Ford, Marc Katano, Eric Powell, and Mark Seely.

Featuring 80 galleries from around the globe, this leading contemporary and modern art fair will take place from April 25 to 29 along the waterfront in the historic Fort Mason Center.

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Miya Ando, 24k Gold Moon, 2019, 24k Gold, Pigment, Resin, Urethane, Aluminum, 48 x 48 Inches

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Eric Powell, Schooner, 2016, Steel, 34 x 53 x 11 Inches

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Mark Seely, Coastland, 2019, Oil over Graph Paper Collage, 60 x 60 Inches

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Catherine Courtenaye, Breeding Ground, 2018, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 60 Inches

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David Kimball Anderson, Persimmon, 2018, Bronze, Steel, Paint, 33 x 20 x 12 Inches

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Diane DallasKidd, Buoyance, 2019, Acrylic Paint, Hand-knotted Linen Threads, Brass, 75 x 10 x 4.5 Inches

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Miya Ando, Grey Black White Meditation Mandala, 2018, Dyed Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa) Skeleton Leaves, Monofilament, Archival Ragboard, 62 x 62 x 2 Inches

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Randal Ford spent the last ten years exploring our deep-rooted emotional connection with animals through the lens of portraiture. Wild animals are typically photographed in their natural habitat, but Ford chose to strip away context by photographing these animals close up and personal in his studio. “Why do we as humans feel something so deeply when we look into the eyes of an animal?” he asks. “My deconstructed form of portraiture is intended to give us a glimpse into the soul of an animal. But what I often find is what we see is a naked glimpse at the most mystical and elusive breed of all–ourselves.”

“Black swan, outlier. Black swan, unpredictable. Black swan, extreme impact. It is said a small number of black swans explains almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and tradition, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives. What’s your black swan?”

“Schicka was my first large cat to photograph in studio. Large cats in studio are an experience unlike anything else. The combination of power and grace is tangible. They command respect and one wrong move can make things escalate quickly. I remember distinctly when Schicka’s trainers removed her leash and asked her to walk to the mark. The way she walked was so graceful, and stunningly beautiful. But I was in the middle, at her mercy. The feeling that I could be prey was chilling. She received fresh, uncooked meat as her reward between takes. I only work with trainers who show a great amount of respect for the animals and are incredibly thoughtful with their care. Schicka’s owners not only treat her with dignity but also love. It was obvious there’s an ongoing relationship of trust and appreciation.”

“Compared to his brother, Amari was a bit more calm and relaxed on set. I thought it would be interesting to see Amari in a very human position. He was agreeable and was happy to pose for us. Inspired by the famous picture of Burt Reynolds for Cosmopolitan magazine in 1972.”

“Penelope liked to dance, but once the lights came on she owned the shoot. Birds are one of my favorite subjects and Penelope had the whole crew’s attention with her elegance and majesty. I wanted to show different tones of gray and also the textures of her feathers so I highlighted her with directional lighting. She was truly a royal subject.”

“Catalina made me just as nervous as some big cats. But sometimes you get one frame with just the right pose. And I consider myself lucky to have capturedCatalina in this pose. We had limited time with her because, well, she’s not only abig bird but also a fast one. And ostriches can be very dangerous. Although theyare considered prey to big cats, their defense mechanism is to raise their massivetalons and kick the hell out of a predator. In order to keep her safe and us safe,Catalina’s trainers brought in a 20 x 20 metal fencing to set a perimeter around her. As we shot, the trainers would open and close the fence.”

“Maverick had mighty horns. He had a set much curvier that most steers. And they were so perfectly symmetrical that I really focused on their shape when composing my frames. Maverick is a Fort Worth native and you can find him hanging out near the stockyards year-round keeping the peace.”

“With a name like Garth, what’s not to like? This masculine cock strutted in the studio with his feathers up, looking for ladies. Fortunately for us, there were none–just some boring seed for the good-looking guy. He certainly posed for us though, and I loved how the light picked up with the classic Americana colors of his coat.”

“Wolves don’t walk, they prance. And Geronimo did just that. He danced around the studio, sniffing us all briefly and posed for us for only a few minutes and then he was ready to leave. 

People often ask what animal is most memorable to me.  All of them are in their own way. But during this process, I often found I related to wolves the most.  Wolves run in packs and stick together but there is often a lone wolf who leaves the pack to go out on his own. I’ve never been one to conform to norms and typically march to the beat of my own drum… so maybe I’m a bit of a lone wolf myself.”

“Oh boy, who would have thought a sloth would be so challenging? Perry, which is short for Perezoso (lazy in Spanish), was a character. Most of my subjects can either stand on their legs or sit upright. Sloths, on the other hand, do neither. They lay or they hang, that’s it. It was impossible to create a shot of Perry laying because he just melted into the floor. However, once I saw him hang, the light bulb went off, THAT was the shot. Despite his namesake, he moved constantly, literally spinning, which made it super challenging for me to capture just the right moment. After working patiently with him I laughed at the irony of my hyperactive sloth and finally captured a shot I was happy with.”

“Jabari, bedhead, messy teenager. Part of the interest of this shot is that he has a young mane growing in. This is so indicative of a teenager, which I guess in lion years, Jabari was right on schedule. The messiness, the awkwardness, and the length all cue the audience to his age and demeanor. Like a teenager, he was all over the place when we photographed him. Some animals sit still for me and I can capture plenty of images. But Jabari only sat still a few times, and I only captured a few decent shots. His size was small enough to know he was young but still big enough to intimidate me as an observer.”

“What a Gertrude. Similar to a yak, Highland cows have long, beautiful shaggy hair. Per their name, they are originally from the Highlands of Scotland. Most Highlands are redheads but Gertrude was a blonde beauty. I loved how her locks covered up her eyes, and in this frame I selected, she tilted her head slightly as if she was telling me something. My affinity for cows definitely holds true with these beautiful Highlands and this portrait of pretty Gertrude is hanging in my house.”

“This is a classic foal pose as they bend down to eat. It has the grace of a deer but shows the muscular precision Weston will grow into. We were very lucky to capture this pose.”

“Yohan and his fifth gear. I grew up a track and field sprinter, and consequently I have always had a love for cheetahs so it was amazing to see Yohan in person. He was distinguished and calm. He resides outside of Dunlap, California, at one of the most amazing large-cat sanctuaries I’ve ever seen. The founder of the organization is continually pushing efforts for large-cat conservation and protection. On our outdoor mobile studio, Yohan was easy going, interested in playing with a large-cat toy, chasing it around like he was a cub. At the sanctuary, they have a 400-square-yard open area for Yohan to show off his speed.”

Randal Ford is an internationally recognized photographer whose works have appeared on the cover of major publications including Time Magazine, andCommunication Arts, the advertising industry’s most respected publication. He has also been commissioned to create photographs for many of the most famous brands in the world such as Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Frito-Lay, L.L.Bean, Verizon, Pfizer, and Pepsi.

Ford has become increasingly involved in the fine art realm with his series of animal portraits. This collection took him about five years to create, although he shot his first portrait of a cow more than 10 years ago. In 2017, these portraits were awarded first place and best of show in the fine art category of the esteemed International Photo Awards competition. In the fall of 2018, renowned publisher Rizzoli released his book The Animal Kingdom, which is currently the No. 1 best seller in photography books on Amazon.

SLOAN MIYASATO FINE ART

Located in the heart of San Francisco’s vibrant art and design district, Sloan Miyasato Fine Art is a contemporary art venue offering a user-friendly alternative to the white walls of traditional art galleries by helping collectors more easily envision art in their homes or other environments. 

Founded in 1997 by Bay Area art advisor Michelle Bello, and set inside one of the city’s most venerable design showrooms, the program features a rotating collection of art installed in distinctive vignettes filled with world-class furnishings. Bello brings more than 25 years of professional art market expertise, both as a former director of two contemporary art galleries, and currently as an independent art advisor, to curate her selection of works by emerging and mid-career artists, along with museum-quality pieces by established names.

Ed Moses, Grid-Y, 2014, Mixed Media, 66 x 54 Inches

This winter we turn our spotlight on an important and quintessential Grid painting by the internationally renowned American artist Ed Moses whose recent passing left a giant hole in the heart of the art world. For collectors in the mood to make a serious acquisition, there is no better time for a Moses Grid painting of this caliber.

We are equally proud to shine a bright light on the next generation of talent who grace our walls. View work by the wonderful artists below, along with work by dozens of other artists in our collection. We hope art will bring joy to you, and joy to the world.

Ed Moses, Grid-Y, 2014, Mixed Media, 66 x 54 Inches, Sloan Miyasato Installation View

First championed by the celebrated Ferus Gallery in 1957, Ed Moses achieved international recognition with other gallery artists such as Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, and Ed Kienholz. Moses was resolute in his commitment to abstract painting. Driven by process and formal experimentation, Moses described himself as a “mutater,” letting the daily practice of painting lead him to discoveries and new questions. He first began working with the infrastructure of the diagonal grid in the mid-1970s, and would return to the motif throughout his life. In his grids, layered space is interwoven and revealed though lattice-like armature of intersecting bands. Moses scraped, slathered, troweled and washed away his pigments, threading and knitting paint into geometric patterns. His work is held in significant public collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C., Walker Art Center, and Whitney Museum of American Art, and Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Mindy Shapero, Square Vision (orange, black, copper), 2011
Acrylic, Spray Paint, and Copper Leaf on Paper, 48 x 48 Inches

Mindy Shapero, Square Vision (orange, black, copper), 2011, Acrylic, Spray Paint, and
Copper Leaf on Paper, 48 x 48 Inches, Gallery Installation View

As Pulitzer Prize winning art critic Jerry Saltz writes, “Shapero’s amazing feel for color and materials results in a tactile and visually intensive work with a mesmerizing jolt.” The works on paper and sculpture of Los Angeles-based artist Mindy Shapero have been shown at major galleries around the world including Marianne Boesky Gallery, NYC, David Kordansky, Los Angeles, and The Breeder, Athens, Greece. She received her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, and MFA from the University of Southern California. Her works have also been exhibited at various institutions such as the Orange County Museum of Art, Rubell Family Collection, Hammer Museum, Wexner Center for the Arts, and Aspen Art Museum.

Casper Brindle, Aura 5, 2016, Acrylic and Metallic Leaf on Panel, 48 x 96 Inches

Casper Brindle, Aura 5, 2016, Acrylic and Metallic Leaf on Panel, 48 x 96 Inches, Gallery View

Casper Brindle, Aura 5, 2016, Acrylic and Metallic Leaf on Panel, 48 x 96 Inches, Detail View

The work of contemporary Los Angeles artist Casper Brindle stems from the Light and Space and Finish Fetish art movements of the 1960s, reflecting the car and surf culture of Southern California. Brindle was mentored by the internationally acclaimed artist Eric Orr, one of the pioneers of the Light and Space movement. In a departure from Brindle’s Strata paintings, he introduces the Aura series. Upon first glance these works appear to be austere white paintings but, viewed from different angles, underlying visual structures begin to emerge. These ghostly forms rise to the surface and seem to vibrate with energy. This visual activity is enhanced by the glowing neon colored halos that radiate from the pieces themselves, extending their presence onto the wall behind them. The enigmatic bars of metallic color which float in the center of each piece inspire quiet reverence, becoming almost sacred in their simplicity. The interpretation of these cryptic monolithic forms is left up to the viewer.

David Becker, Thelonius, 2014, Acrylic on Canvas, 68 x 50 Inches

David Becker, who studied at the Central School of Art in London and the Whitney’s Independent Study Program in New York, has been quietly working in an Oakland warehouse for years, for the most part under the radar, showing rarely, producing a consistently strong body of painting. For all of his studio practice’s independence from the strains of the market, his work could hardly be described as naïve; in fact, it seems to deal with most every sophisticated current in the ongoing discussion of painting’s address to our culture and condition,” says gallerist George Lawson. “He has woven together multiple threads of recent art history and any given organizing principle in the work might depend upon the precedent one chooses to track. From the counterbalance of Alexander Calder’s mobiles, the opaque push and pull of Hans Hoffman’s abstraction, the gossamer layering of Robert Rauschenberg’s Combines, to the kitchen sink inclusiveness of Chris Martin’s post history, it’s all here, supporting a sampler quilt of paint’s possible vernacular range.”

Judith Foosaner, Outside In 9, 2016, Collage with Acrylic on Canvas, 54 x 72 Inches

Judith Foosaner studied with art world masters David Hockney, Elmer Bischoff, R.B. Kitaj, and Mark Rothko while at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her MA in Art and BA in English. Based in the Bay Area for many years, Foosaner become known for her own mastery of line and shape, both in her paintings and collages. She also taught at the California College of Arts, University of California, Berkeley, and the Wimbledon College of Art in London before retiring from teaching to focus on her art practice. Outside In 9 is a continuation of her long love affair with calligraphy–the lines moving through the space, their variety, density, and nuance. In addition to line, there is shape. And in addition to shape, there is value, space, volume, and movement. Foosaner says, “As I work, and if I’m lucky, rhythm arrives, then more, then more. More luck and choreography announces itself. Necessity has now been met.”

Robert Charles Dunahay, Highway, 2018, Mixed Media on Canvas, 65 x 65 Inches

Robert Charles Dunahay, Crosswalk, 2018, Mixed Media on Canvas, 65 x 65 Inches

Robert Charles Dunahay, Crosswalk, 2018, Mixed Media on Canvas, 65 x 65 Inches, Detail

“Several years ago, I moved from the Bay Area to Palm Springs where I first experienced life in the desert,” says Robert Charles Dunahay. “I was fascinated by the patterns in the little sand dunes that would build up after a windy day. And the desert sand is so fine and silky, I wanted to use it in my work. Eventually I started adding sand to acrylic paint and brushing it onto canvas. Then, it was just a matter of time and experimenting to get to my new series of paintings Highways. Only now I am using crystalline sand rather than desert sand. When used in the context of a Pop Art inspired ubiquitous everyday subject like a section of highway or road, it really works brilliantly! You just want to touch the glittering pavement.”

Diane Tate DallasKidd, Charm, 2018, Hand-knotted Linen Threads,
Acrylic Paint, Marble, Metal Fixture, 44 x 7 x 4 Inches

Diane Tate DallasKidd, Charm, 2018, Hand-knotted Linen Threads,
Acrylic Paint, Marble, Metal Fixture, 44 x 7 x 4 Inches

Diane Tate DallasKidd was born and raised in San Francisco. Upon graduating from San Francisco State University with a BFA in Textile Art, she traveled to Japan to study under 4th generation dyer Tsuyoshi Kuno. Kuno uses centuries old techniques in inventive ways to create cutting-edge textiles for avant-garde fashion designers such as Issey Miyake. Working alongside such a visionary had a lasting impact on DallasKidd’s own artwork. Years later she continues to experiment, creating her own distinctive fiber art in her Sausalito, California studio. Even her modestly sized pieces are deceivingly powerful, evoking tribal fetishes or ancient charms.

Sloan Miyasato Fine Art

Located in the heart of San Francisco’s vibrant art and design district, Sloan Miyasato Fine Art is a contemporary art venue offering a user-friendly alternative to the white walls of traditional art galleries by helping collectors more easily envision art in their homes or other environments.

Founded in 1997 by Bay Area art advisor Michelle Bello, and set inside one of the city’s most venerable design showrooms, the program features a rotating collection of art installed in distinctive vignettes filled with world-class furnishings. Bello brings more than 25 years of professional art market expertise, both as a former director of two contemporary art galleries, and currently as an independent art advisor, to curate her selection of works by emerging and mid-career artists, along with museum-quality pieces by established names.