Cups

The Frank Lloyd Gallery is delighted to present an online-only exhibit of cups by Ken Price. Price made cups at different times during his career, and in various forms. Some had animal or reptile forms, like the camel, snail or frog cups. And some, like the "Nose Cup" in this exhibit, make reference to human form. In "A Talk with Slides," at the Chinati Foundation in 2004, the artist stated, "It's not something I calculated. It's just something I came upon, and it felt right to me. The cup presents a set of formal restrictions--sort of a preordained structure. If you buy it, you have a lot of freedom within that, which I like."

A hand-held cup is clearly related to sensuality and personal sustenance; something
that we touch to our lips, making an essential bond with daily life and nourishment. It might hold a warm stimulating coffee, or a cool alcohol. So it is tied to human delight. Few would have thought to make it a vessel for ideas, but Ken Price did just that. In his hands, with a sense of humor and brilliant imagination, the cup became a way to talk about almost anything.

As the artist stated. "The cup is its own subject, basically. It doesn't have to be about anything other than itself. But it can be used as a vehicle for ideas. I was into reptiles and amphibians a lot." Price went on to state, in the Chinati talk, "All through the sixties I made little groups of cups every year, as a hobby or something."

Later, after moving to Taos, New Mexico in the early 1970s, Price was very involved with working "in the spirit of Mexican pottery," not wanting to make copies, but creating pottery that had the feeling of a roadside stand in rural Mexico. The project grew to become very engaging, and took over the artist's house and studio. Eventually, under the title of "Happy's Curios," the project was formally set up at the Los Angeles County Museum, an exhibition presented from April 4 to July 2, 1978. Among the "wares" that Price made were sets of cups, such as the example in this show, "Untitled Flower Cup," c. 1974-76" Also included were "Town Cups," like the delightful small landscapes and town scenes in our current exhibition.

One of the largest collections of cups, which is now part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was assembled by Betty Asher. Asher's first cup purchase was a cup Price made, so I once asked the artist: " How do you regard her importance in your career?" The artist responded "Betty Asher was a friend and a collector who actually bought our work. Betty had a great personality and sense of humor, and was definitely supportive in those lean days."

Ken Price (1935–2012) is one of the most important sculptors to have emerged from the fertile art scene of Los Angeles in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The son and grandson of inventors, he grew up in an environment that encouraged his creative interests, leading Price to identify as an artist from an early age. Price received a B.F.A. from the University of Southern California in 1956, and his M.F.A. from Alfred University in 1959. Returning to Los Angeles, he joined the stable of artists at the legendary Ferus gallery, where he had several solo exhibitions. His work resides in dozens of museum collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, Menil Collection, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Art Institute of Chicago, Albright Knox Art Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. His work was the subject of a 2012 major traveling retrospective exhibit, organized by Stephanie Barron of LACMA, which traveled to the Nasher Sculpture and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

--by Frank Lloyd