ART CITIES:N.York-John Mason

Often cited as a contributor to the revolution in clay John Mason changed the perception of the medium from craft into fine art, mixing Western and Eastern influences. The material result is something completely sui generis and hard to trace—untethered to a single genre or movement, yet related to many.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Gagosian Archive

One of the most visionary ceramic artists of the last Century, John Mason brought his medium into conversation with Abstract Expressionism by extending the physical and spatial properties of clay. He began his career on the West Coast in the 1950s, as part of a group of artists who studied with the pioneering ceramist Peter Voulkos at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. The works in the exhibition “Geometric Force”, which span john Mason’s early career to the years preceding his death at age ninety-one in 2019, attest to the range and vocabulary of his innovation and experimentation in clay. Standing almost 183 cm tall, “Orange Cross” (1963) is glazed in a rich hue that recalls the desert landscape of Nevada, where Mason grew up. These earthy tones, along with shades of blue reminiscent of an open sky, recur throughout his work. “Orange Cross” encapsulates many of Mason’s evolving concerns, including tensions between geometry and materiality, and open and closed forms. Smaller works demonstrate his ability to shift his scope in terms of form and scale. His “orbs” are made from geometric circles and right angles, fitting together in modular formation with no single beginning, end, top, or bottom. Born in Madrid, Nebraska in 1927 and raised in Fallon, Nevada, John Mason moved to Los Angeles in 1949 at the age of 22. He first enrolled at the Los Angeles Art Institute (now Otis) and then studied with Susan Peterson at the Chouinard Art Institute. In 1954, the Los Angeles Art Institute hired Peter Voulkos to head the ceramics department. Mason worked with Voulkos and others in the ceramics studios at night, and worked independently during the day. By 1957, Mason and Voulkos moved to a new studio that they shared on Glendale Blvd. During the period of 1957-1965, Mason focused on exploring the physical properties of clay, its possibilities as well as its limitations as a medium. He constantly experimented with his material’s plasticity, pushing clay to its technical limits and developing innovative firing techniques. The artist then diversified his output, producing tall vertical sculptures, huge wall reliefs, cross forms and geometric shapes. Symmetry, rotation, mass, and the integration of color and form came to characterize his work, and are some of the sustaining concepts of his career. Although Mason does not consciously draw on identifiable sources in his work, he does recall an interest in primitive art, a fact which is manifested in the mysterious and totemic quality of many of his pieces. Mason’s work over the past six decades presents one of the most compelling arguments for abstract sculpture. His line of thought and consistency of execution are the hallmarks of a true artist, motivated by his desire to push his creative explorations even further. John Mason’s innovations in the field of ceramic sculpture opened the art world’s eyes to the possibilities of the medium. His process-based method of working emphasized the clay and what he could do with it, as he pushed to material well past conventional limits and tradition. Since the late 1950s, when he exhibited at the legendary Ferus Gallery, Mason has had one-man shows at the Pasadena Museum of Art (1960 and 1974), the Los Angeles County Museum (1966), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1978), and the Hudson River Museum (1978), among others. He saw a resurgence of interest in his work later in his life, and participated in exhibitions such as “Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970” at the Getty Center in 2011–12 and the Whitney Biennial in 2014. In recent years, contemporary artists as diverse as Shio Kusaka, Sterling Ruby, Ed Ruscha, and Jonas Wood have cited him as an important influence.

Info: Gagosian Gallery, 821 Park Avenue, New York, Duration: 10/1-15/2/20, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-18:00, https://gagosian.com