FILTER RESULTS × Close
by Artist (2042)
by Century (5)
by Country (6)
by Object Type (140)
by Period (7)
Skip to Content
NEHMA logo
Showing 5272 of 5751

Print this page
Image of L'Ocean Cloud Cup

Malcolm Mobutu Smith

American, b. 1969

L'Ocean Cloud Cup
2005

Stoneware, slip, and glaze
5.75 x 12 x 5.875 in.
Gift of the Billie Sessions Ceramic Acquisition Fund
2022.6

Malcolm Mobutu Smith’s background, or “aesthetic subculture,” as he puts it, is an amalgam of hip-hop, graffiti, comic books, break dancing, and playful organic abstraction. His work is mostly wheel-thrown, with wholesale alterations as he plays with the form throughout wet and leather-hard stages. The Cloud Cup displays the energy of such improvisation and alteration. Matthew Kangas, in Ceramics Monthly, called Smith the godfather of hip-hop ceramics.

Smith’s parents are both artists. He attended Kansas City Art Institute (1988–90), working with Ken Ferguson (see Ferguson’s 1968 Bottle); then Pennsylvania State University (1991– 94) for his BFA, where he studied with Chris Staley (see Staley’s 1988 Bowl and Teapot); and finally, Alfred University, New York (1994–96), for his MFA. That same year he began teaching ceramics at Western Kentucky University. Since 2001 he has been an associate professor at Indiana University.

Billie Sessions, PhD.

Keywords
Click a term to view the records with the same keyword
This object has the following keywords:
clouds, teal

Additional Images Click an image to view a larger version
Additional Image
Additional Image

Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Also found in
Click a portfolio name to view all the objects in that portfolio
This object is a member of the following portfolios:
Thumbnail image of Unearthed | The NEHMA Ceramics Collection & The Woman Behind It
Unearthed | The NEHMA Ceramics Collection & The Woman Behind It
Thumbnail image of Ceramics
Ceramics
Thumbnail image of Unearthed | 1990s and Beyond
Unearthed | 1990s and Beyond

Your current search criteria is: All Objects records.





This site facilitates access to the art and artifact collections by providing digitally searchable records for thousands objects. The information on these pages is not definitive or comprehensive. We are regularly adding artworks and updating research online. We welcome your comments.