Ken Price

1935Born Los Angeles, California

2012Died Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico

EDUCATION

1956Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, California

1956BFA University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

1957Los Angeles County Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design), Los Angeles, California

1959MFA New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1993-2003Ceramics Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

Ken Price’s diverse work ranges from his early, domestic-scaled cup series made from the 1950s to 1970s to his later free-form sculptural works in the 1980s and 1990s.

His “Architectural Cups” series dated 1972-1974, for example, explores the bright color palette of commercially available paints and slips. In much of his early work Price layered colors and glazes through multiple applications and up to 20 firings.

Price’s later works in the 1980s and 1990s reflect an even greater attention to surface design with added emphasis on texture and form. He moved away from domestic, pseudo-functional cup forms to large, amorphous, soft, erotic forms. The surfaces of these works were occasionally glazed but, more often, painted with multiple layers of bright acrylic paints, finished by sanding away to reveal, or conceal, the range of colors below.

At the Los Angeles Art Institute, Price studied under Peter Voulkos. While Price’s ceramics are better understood as stylistically post-modern rather than Abstract Expressionist, he learned from Voulkos a dedication to the craft, resulting in a large body of surviving work. As Price’s work matured it showed little direct reference to the work of his teacher.