Ron Cooper
United States
b. 1943

First, 1984
1 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 61 in.
Glazed Ceramic
Sweeney Art Gallery Permanent Collection
Gift of Cynthia S. Monaco
94.3.1

Ron Cooper's fascination with light has led him through an impressive array of media and seemingly contrasting artistic directions. His early work includes large light sculptures made of polyester resin and fiberglass. Next, he delved into photography and experimented with images of illuminated torsos, paying homage to Eadweard Muybridge and Edward Weston's photographic studies of the human body, as well as to the classical ideal found in Greek sculpture. First is an example of his more recent work: painted ceramic torsos. Cooper's painted torsos are an outgrowth of his fascination with the effect of light on the human body. Now, various colors of glazing have replaced light as surface design. Using drips reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism, Cooper breaks down the three-dimensional quality of the ceramic trunk, and encourages a two-dimensional reading of a sculptural form.

© UC Regents and the artist.