Collection Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Zimmerman, Arnie (American, 1954-2021) |
Title |
Untitled |
Date |
1984 |
Medium |
Stoneware/Glaze |
Material |
Ceramic |
Technique |
Glazed stoneware |
Height (in) |
104.000 |
Diameter (in) |
27.000 |
Circumference (in) |
126.000 |
Credit line |
Gift of Dr. Harold F. Daum |
Notes |
Have you ever wondered about the two massive sculptures that stand on the State Fair Community College campus, flanking the entrance to the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art? They are part of the museum's permanent collection, and are created by the American artist Arnold Zimmerman. The two monumental urns are made of glazed stoneware, stand around nine feet tall, and weigh about a ton each. Arnold Zimmerman (b. 1954) is a leading American ceramist, well regarded for his large ceramic columns and urns, as well as for figural works that satirize contemporary culture. The Daum's enormous vessels, dating from 1984, are inspired by the grand scale and idiosyncratic carvings found in Romanesque architecture-columns, pilasters, and statuary-which the artist encountered during travels and work in Europe. (Zimmerman worked as a stone carver in Provence, France, during the mid-1970s.) His untitled urns bear deeply carved surfaces and strangely animated forms that twist and turn, almost taking on characteristics of the human body. The abstract surface designs are influenced by what the artist terms "primal images," including concentric circles, spirals, and arcs. Zimmerman received a BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred. He has exhibited his work internationally since the late 1970s, and sculptures by him are found at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; and the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Japan. Zimmerman maintains a studio in Hudson, New York. |
Object ID |
2014.02.01 |
Object Type |
Ceramic |