Mel Henderson

American
(1922–2013)

Untitled (Biomorphic Sculpture)
circa 1966

Wood and plaster
5 x 8.875 x 7.625 in.
Gift of the Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation
2008.64

• abstract - Genre of visual arts in which figurative subjects or other forms are simplified or changed in their representation so that they do not portray a recognizable person, object, thing, etc.; may reference an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object. For the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances, prefer "abstraction." For 20th-century art styles that were a reaction against the traditional European conception of art as the imitation of nature, use "Abstract (fine arts style)."
• Funk - First used to describe the work of a group of artists working in San Francisco in the late 1950s, and later used as the title of an exhibition held in Callifornia in 1967. The style is characterized by a preoccupation with sick, shocking, and sexually provocative imagery resulting in bizarre combinations of materials such as leather, steel, clay, vinyl, fur, and ceramics.

• Uses of the Real Part II , 7/1/2009 - 8/30/2010
• Small Things , 6/12/2013 - 8/19/2014