Brady | The Marks Project

About

Biography

Robert Brady?s early abstract coil and pinch built figurative sculptures reference iconic spiritual and mythological imagery. These early porcelain or stoneware figures established his reputation as one of the moving forces in California?s San Francisco Bay area figurative ceramic sculpture movement. The near life-size elongated forms recall the work of sculptor Alberto Giacometti. As a result of raku firing, the figures have a patina that suggests age.

In the late 1970s, Brady produced a series of distorted masks based on Mexican folk sculptures. In the 1980s his influence shifted to the Septic River figures from New Guinea and masks of the Northwest Coast.

In the 1970s Brady earned his MFA at UC Davis with Robert Arneson.

In 1989 Brady shifted media and began building his figures in wood. After a number of years working with wood, he returned to clay, at first working with terra cotta. At that time he also made a number of functional, wheel thrown vessels decorated with angular line drawings. Brady continues these vessel forms today (2017). On occasion, Brady makes both the clay and wire sculpture pendants with a unique lanyard. Brady continues to create bronze figurative work as well as both abstract ceramic and wood free standing and wall hung sculptures. Brady is comfortable working with all mediums, wood, clay, and bronze.

Apprenticeships & Residencies

Primary Work Experience

1975

2008

Professor of Art, California State University, Sacramento, California

Other

Public Collections

Arkansas Museum of Art, Little Rock, Arkansas

Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, California

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California

Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California

Palm Beach Community College, West Palm Beach, Florida

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, San Francisco, California

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland

Bibliography

Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1976 to the Present. New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1979.

Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire Defining Monuments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000. Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2000.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1988.

Manhart, Marcia and Tom Manhart, eds. The Eloquent Object, the Evolution of American Art in Craft Media Since 1945.Tulsa, Oklahoma: The Philbrook Museum of Art, 1987.

Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay, third edition. Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, 2000.

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