The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 156

ARTISTS' BIOGRAPHIES

Saxe, Adrian
American; (b. 1943, Glendale, CA; lives in Los Angeles, CA)
1974 BFA California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
1965–1969 Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA

Born and raised in Glendale, California, Adrian Saxe studied under Ralph Bacerra

SELECTED REFERENCES:

and John Coplans at the Chouinard Art Institute (later renamed the California Institute

Clark, Garth, and Cindi

of the Arts) in Los Angeles from 1965 to 1969. Saxe completed his BFA in 1974. The artist’s

Strauss. Shifting Paradigms

expertly rendered porcelain sculptures serve as contemporary interpretations of historical

in Contemporary Ceramics:

and decorative forms. In 1987 Saxe was the first artist to receive a fellowship at L'Atelier

Vecchio Collection. New

expérimental de recherche et de création de la Manufacture de Sèvres in France.

Haven: Yale University Press;

In addition to eighteenth-century European porcelains, Saxe’s work culls from a variety

Houston: The Museum of

of sources including Canton export ware from the Kuang Hsu period in China and
early-nineteenth-century Worcester and Coalport porcelains from England. Often adding
to his sculptures mass-produced objects such as toy cars or colorful rhinestones, Saxe

Fine Arts, Houston, 2012.
Held, Peter, ed. Innovation &
Change: Ceramics from the
Arizona State University Art

playfully unites elite and popular elements of culture. A mid-career exhibition of Saxe’s

Museum. Tempe: Arizona

work opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1993 and Saxe’s numerous

State Art Museum, 2009.

grants and awards include the Regis Master Award (2014), John Simon Guggenheim

Herman, Lloyd E. American

Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2002), Flintridge Foundation Visual Artists Award (2001),

Porcelain: New Expressions

and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1986). Saxe has taught at the University
of California, Los Angeles since 1973 and is currently head of the ceramics department.

ADRIAN SAXE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

Untitled (Black Antelope Jar)

15 4

The Garth Clark & Mark Del

in an Ancient Art. Forest
Grove: Timber Press, 1981.