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Dark,
somber and foreboding, Arthur
Gonzalez's works encourage serious
deliberation and reflection on the
relationship between personal concerns
and world issues. Raw in form, lacking
in smoothness and rough in finish, the
ceramic sculptures give glimpses of a
conversation or a contemplation in
progress. Gonzalez's creations of
ceramic and found objects reveal
visions and feelings that are not
polished but ongoing processes of
gyrating thoughts and churning
emotions that threaten to erupt into
reality and consciousness to defy the
fantasy of a peaceful experience.
Three
distinct phases have influenced the
direction of Gonzalez's artistic
career and expression. First, as a
graduate student, at the University of
California at Davis, under Robert
Arneson and Manuel Neri, he entered
the Master of Fine Arts program as a
figurative sculptor during the late
1970'safter completing an Master of
Arts in painting at the California
State University of Sacramento. His
second phase was as an artist in
residence at the University of
Georgia, Athens from 1981 to 1982.
Gonzalez's attitudes towards art
changed through his exposure to a
creative life-style that blended music
and visual art. The third phase of
Gonzalez's career was through his
involvement in the early 1980's East
Village Art Scene, in New York City,
which fast-forwarded public
recognition of his work. |