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“A major figure in ceramic sculpture, Mason emerged in the mid-1950s as one of the leaders of a revolution that transformed clay from a craft to a fine art medium… In his latest work, Mason has proved himself a master builder and sculptor who knows how to get the most out of a relatively simple three dimensional form.”
--Suzanne Muchnic, ArtNews
The new work, massive in scale and strong in color, continues his life-long involvement with the characteristics of the medium. The slab-built sculptures demonstrate the malleability and plasticity of clay yet also serve as a support for the colored glaze surface.Technical and material concerns are combined with a new reference to the figure, at times recalling iconic and totemic sculpture.
For example, the work titled Ember Spear is related to Vertical Sculpture-Spear Form, 1957. The earlier piece, a massive two-sided upright totem, featured a central dark shape that echoed the form. The new work, Ember Spear, contains the same eccentric angles but its planes radiate from a triangular base and a central axis. Other new works continue Mason’s long-term interest in spatial perception, mathematical progression, and modular repetition.
John Mason is one of the most important artists working in Los Angeles today. Since the late 1950s, when he exhibited at the legendary Ferus Gallery, Mason has had one-man shows at the Pasadena Museum of Art (1960 and 1974), the Los Angeles County Museum (1966), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1978), and the Hudson River Museum (1978), among others.
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Education
Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, California
Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, California
Museum Collections
Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois
City of Boise, Boise, Idaho
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Gifu Prefectural Museum, Seki City, Japan
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
National Museum of History, Republic of China, Taipei, Taiwan
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University at Logan
Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, California
Oakland Museum, Oakland, California
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
Pomona College, Claremont, California
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington
D.C.
Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno
Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shiga
Prefecture, Japan
State of California, Sacramento
Wichita Art Institute, Wichita, Kansas
World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Korea
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
2007 Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
2006 Holter Museum, Helena, Montana
2005 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
2004 Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno
Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York
2002 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
2000 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago
1999 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
1998 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago
1997 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica
1995 Habatat/Shaw Gallery, Pontiac, Michigan
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago
1994 Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles
1993 Garth Clark Gallery, New York
1992 Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles
1991 Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles
1990 Garth Clark Gallery, New York
1987 Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
1986 L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, California
1981 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York,
1979 University of Nevada, Reno
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota
California State University at Long Beach
University of Kentucky, Lexington
1978 University Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York
1976 Hansen Fuller Gallery, San Francisco
1974 Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, Pasadena, California
1966 Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1963 Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles
1961 Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles
1960 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California
1959 Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles
1957 Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Oregon Ceramic Studio, Portland, Oregon
1956 Gump’s Gallery, San Francisco, California
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