RALPH BACERRRA

RALPHBA CERRA

1938Born Garden Grove, California

2008Died Eagle Rock, California

EDUCATION

1961BFA Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, California

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1961-1964Faculty, Ceramics Department, Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, California

1963-1972Chairman, Ceramics Department, Chouinard Art Institute

1983-1997Faculty and Chairman Ceramics Department, Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, California

CAREER

Bacerra joined the U.S. Army in 1961, returning in 1963 to find the position of chairperson of the ceramics department at Chouinard left open by Vivika Heino. Bacerra occupied this position there from 1963 to 1971, at which point Chouinard was renamed the California Institute of the Arts and moved to Valencia, California. After this move in 1971, the ceramics department was dropped from the school's curriculum, and Bacerra went to work full-time in his studio.

Art work

The artwork of Ralph Bacerra is recognizable by its vivid use of color and contrast, which are the result of a delicate and multi-staged process of overglazing. He is also known for geometrically complicated and technically difficult forms. His decorative aesthetic draws from Asian sources, most notably Japanese Imari and Kutani pieces, Persian miniatures, and Chinese Tang ceramics.

Bacerra has insisted upon an absence of metaphor:

I've never really thought of my work in post-modern terms. But I suppose in many ways it fits the definition. My pieces are based on traditional ideas and engage in certain cultural appropriations—in form, in design, in glaze choices. However, my work is not post-modern in the sense that I am not making any statements—social, political, conceptual, even intellectual. There's no meaning or metaphor. I'm committed more to the idea of pure beauty. The finished piece should be like an ornament, exquisitely beautiful."

Exhibitions

· Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe

· Bates Gallery, Edinboro State College, Edinboro, Pennsylvania

· Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York

· Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

· John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

· Krannet Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois

· Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California

· Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

· M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco

· Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina

· The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan

· Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York

· Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

· National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

· Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey

· The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California

ABOUT

Ralph Bacerra was an American Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1938. Their work was featured in numerous exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the CCS Bard, Hessel Museum of Art. Ralph Bacerra's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $277 USD to $40,000 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2001 the record price for this artist at auction is $40,000 USD for Untitled (Lidded Sphere), sold at Bonhams Los Angeles in 2018. Ralph Bacerra has been featured in articles for the ArtDaily and the "New York Times". The most recent article is MFA Houston Announces Acquisition of Over 160 Decorative Arts Objects written for the ArtDaily in July 2010. The artist died in 2008.