Wright Auction

Rago, Wright and LAMA are honored to present works from the collection of Marge and Philip Kalodner. The Kalodners have been avid supporters of artists and institutions committed to clay, including The Clay Studio in Philadelphia through the Marge Brown Kalodner Graduate Student Exhibition, which has run continuously since 2013. Over four decades, the Kalodners fervently sought to collect the best examples of contemporary clay, with an encompassing eye for an artist's vision and virtuoso skill. The result is a rich and vibrant collection showcasing the best talent in the field of twentieth century and contemporary ceramics including Viola Frey, Kathy Butterly, Sergei Isupov, Michael Lucero, and Jean-Pierre Larocque.

Lucero was born in California and trained in painting, ceramics, and metalworking on the West Coast during the 1970s. His work teems with energy, riotous color, and a melding of personal, cultural, and artistic inspirations spanning centuries of time, all of which he effortlessly combines into a truly unique artistic vocabulary. Lucero’s Anthropomorphic works, for instance, draw from 19th century Afro-Carolinian ceramic jugs, boneless Mexican Nayarit-inspired limbs, found objects, surrealistic painting, and even his obsession with insects. He sometimes riffs on George Ohr with in-body twists and bright, sponged-on glazes; Dada in his Reclamation series, which subvert our expectations of art and everyday objects; and even our consumer society, evident in the barcodes painted on many of his pieces. Exciting, ambitious, and eccentric, Lucero’s works defy easy categorization and invite the viewer to immerse themselves in, and analyze, the personal and cultural dialogues they contain.