Flyer for Matthias Merkel Hess
Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences and
The Department of Art
present sculptor Matthias Merkel Hess as part of the Spring 2013 Visual Art Thinkers Series on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 7 p.m. in Moulton Center, 213.

About Matthias Merkel Hess:
Sculptor, maker, manufacturer and merchandiser, Matthias Merkel Hess uses his work to mess with boundaries, adopt multiple causes and function in the art world as a gentle trickster. His best-known work replicates plastic vessels such as milk crates and trash cans in glazed ceramic, turning mass-produced items into semi-precious objects that resonate with the history of pottery. He also produces a line of artisinal, wheel-thrown pottery called Merkel Ware and at the 2012 Venice Beach Biennial, launched a line called MerkelCraft Art & Novelties that pays homage to the 19th century potter George Ohr and the now defunct L.A. ceramics company Treasure Craft. Equally interested in utility and futility, Merkel Hess is the self-styled Second Tupper, Third Palissy and Potter of the Void. For the Visual Arts Thinkers Series, Merkel Hess will present a tribute to The Greatest Artist Talk Ever. Matthias Merkel Hess (b. 1978) received his MFA in ceramics from UCLA in 2010. He has had solo exhibitions at ACME and Las Cienegas Projects in Los Angeles. His work has been included in group shows at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas; Salon 94 and Louis B. James, New York; the 2012 Venice Beach Biennial in Venice Beach, Calif.; Jane Deering Gallery, Santa Barbara, Calif.; and in Los Angeles at ACME, Favorite Goods,
Iko Iko, Free City, Steve Turner Contemporary and Cerritos College. In June, he will have solo shows at Salon 94 Freemans in New York City and ACME in Los Angeles. Merkel Hess divides his time between Los Angeles and Cleghorn, Iowa.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please call, (714) 997-6729.