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Broken Hollywood Sign, from The Plain of Smokes

A work made of color screenprint on white wove paper.

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  • A work made of color screenprint on white wove paper.

Date:

1981

Artist:

Ken Price (American, 1935–2012)
written by Harvey Mudd (American, born 1940)
printed by Gary Lichtenstein (American)
published by Arabesque Books

About this artwork

Known principally as a ceramicist, Ken Price emerged with a group of Los Angeles–based surfer-artists in the sixties that included, among others, Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, and Larry Bell. Price’s three-dimensional work consists predominantly of ceramic cups and polymorphous sculptures that emphasize clean lines, smooth surfaces, and colorful glazes. These aesthetic principles carry over into his two dimensional works as well, as his illustrations for Harvey Mudd’s book-length poem The Plain of Smokes demonstrate. The poem—written in four parts, from four different points of view, in four very different styles—is an ode to the Los Angeles that shaped both the artist and the poet. The Plain of Smokes was a true artist–poet collaboration—each motivating revisions in the other’s work. Price, for example, responded specifically to Mudd’s verse with Smiling Bather, and after seeing Price’s image Club Zebra, Mudd reworked the poem to include it.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Kenneth Price

Title

Broken Hollywood Sign, from The Plain of Smokes

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1981

Medium

Color screenprint on white wove paper

Dimensions

37.9 × 31.4 cm (14 15/16 × 12 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Christopher J. Lewis

Reference Number

1994.759.27

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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