Arts & Entertainment

Marin Contemporary Celebrates Bay Area Legends

The Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in Novato has a new show starting October 12.

Titled "Legends of the Bay Area", the show honors celebrated sculptor and forefather of West Coast's assemblage movement, Robert Hudson.

The exhibition includes Hudson's sculptures, ceramic pieces and drawings, many of which use everyday objects like a heating grate or a broken enameled sink. The work often seems an unruly mix of elements at first glance but soon reveals itself to be a carefully ordered interlacing of textures, color and geometric forms.

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Robert Hudson has an exhibition history that spans more than 50 years. A long-time Bay Area resident, he was an integral part of the San Francisco Funk Art movement in the 1960s and is a contemporary and longtime friend of Richard Shaw and William T. Wiley. Hudson’s works are included in collections across the nation including the SFMoMa, NYMoMA, deYoung Museum, DiRosa Preserve, and the Art institute of Chicago. He has taught at several California art institutions including the San Francisco Art Institute, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Davis, and the California College of Arts and Crafts.

Hudson has a deep understanding of his materials, and he combines discarded artifacts to create visual harmonies that make unexpected visual sense. In many of his pieces, viewers can see shapes playing off each other, as in his piece Crosscut, where the line of triangular saw blade juts out in stark contrast to the smooth curves of spirals, rods, and spheres surrounding the base. He also engages the viewer in a bit of sleight of hand, as materials are not always what they seem to be.  His piece, Blue Rope Jar, fools the eye by including a rope actually made of porcelain instead of fibres.

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Despite the fact that some of the materials he uses are heavy or industrial, the resulting sculptures have a lightness that is expressed both in tone and composition. Hudson’s work has a signature wit that infiltrates all the media he works with, and leaves the viewer with a smile.

The museum will also hold an Artist Talk October 19, at 2pm.

The Marin Museum of Contemporary Art is located at the Novato Arts Center at Hamilton Field, 500 Palm Drive, Novato, California. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm. Admission is free. Call 415-506-0137 for more information.


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