Collection Artwork
An abstractly shaped sculpture on a white wall with a small amount of black floor visible at the bottom. The sculpture melds images of a white car, a male bodybuilder and a cartoonish female face.
An abstractly shaped sculpture on a white wall with a small amount of black floor visible at the bottom. The sculpture melds images of a white car, a male bodybuilder and a cartoonish female face.
James Esber (born Cleveland, Ohio, 1961)
Bouquet
2004
plasticine on panel
panel size: 106 1/2 x 75 x 1 1/4 in.
Gift of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York; Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Funds
2005.2

Installation views

Object Label

James Esber makes paintings and drawings that twist and distort familiar images in American culture. Esber has long been fascinated with how the brain and eyes respond to optical clues, particularly the point at which a distorted image ceases functioning as a representation and turns into something new. He searches the Internet for images and, using Photoshop, manipulates the forms, which he then transfers to paint and other materials. Some works feature a single image, while others present a riotous mashup of disparate images: heroes and villains such as Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jackson, and Osama Bin Laden, or, a range of kitsch, like the Hummel figurine, body builder, and smashed car in this work. In the late 1990s, Esber began experimenting with Plasticine, a type of oil-based modeling clay. The malleable material is applied in hundreds of small patches, creating an undulating relief that emaphasizes the plasticity of his forms.

From the exhibition: One Work (January 25 – June 1, 2014)

Ongoing Research

Research on our collection is ongoing. If you have resources you’d like to share, please contact Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara.
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