Bigger, Better, More: The Art of Viola Frey

Viola Frey (1933-2004) was one of the most influential sculptors of the twentieth century. She emerged in the complex and often contradictory art world of the 1950s where painting, craft (specifically ceramics) and design often merged and diverged in dynamic ways. After studying and working in Ne... Read more

Viola Frey (1933-2004) was one of the most influential sculptors of the twentieth century. She emerged in the complex and often contradictory art world of the 1950s where painting, craft (specifically ceramics) and design often merged and diverged in dynamic ways. After studying and working in New Orleans and New York, Frey returned to her native San Francisco in the 1960s to devote herself to ceramics. This was period of experimentation and innovation on the west coast. Frey’s contemporaries Peter Voulkos and Robert Arneson were taking ceramics to new horizons by deconstructing form, interjecting sculptural values as well as political and personal content. Frey found her unique style and visual vocabulary in her life-long fascination with mass-produced ceramics figurines which she collected in flea markets. She created what are known as “bricolage” sculptures from assemblages of these knick-knacks, countering their sentimentality and kitschy quality through her engagement of scale. Her gigantic, domineering men and over-wrought women figures allowed her to address issues of gender and power in terms of societal mores in America at mid-twentieth century.