Funk Art Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson   (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992)  was an American sculptor and ceramicist who is considered as the father of Funk Art, the anti-establishment movement that incorporated a mélange of found objects, autobiographical subjects, and humor. He was born on September 4, 1930 in Benicia, CA and studied at California College of the Arts after working as a cartoonist for a local newspaper. In 1962, he was appointed professor of ceramics at UC Davis where he worked for nearly three decades, establishing the ceramic sculpture program and thereby helping bring the previously maligned medium into the realm of fine art. He is perhaps best remembered for his Eggheads series, the bizarre sculptures of faces he installed around the UC Davis campus. He died on November 2, 1992 in Benicia, CA from liver cancer, and his works can be found in major institutions around the world including including the Chicago Art Institute, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. (artnet.com)