Ken Price

Ken Price (1935–2012) was an exceptionally inventive American sculptor whose five-decade career transformed the language of ceramics. Born in Los Angeles, he emerged in 1960 with a solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery, immediately recognized for his originality. Price reimagined the ceramic vessel, creating compact, unconventional forms that strayed from traditional utility. By the 1980s, he replaced glaze with layered acrylic paint, building up and sanding the surface to create radiant and richly diverse finishes. His rounded, biomorphic sculptures are both playful and carefully made, pairing strong craftsmanship with a focused exploration of color. In later years, he worked on a larger scale, creating pieces with polished, iridescent surfaces that enhanced their visual impact. He earned a B.F.A. from the University of Southern California and briefly studied under Peter Voulkos at the Los Angeles County Art Institute. He then obtained an M.F.A. from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred.

His work is held in numerous public collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Price was featured in several Getty-sponsored “Pacific Standard Time” exhibitions in 2011-2012. At his death, Price was preparing for a 50-year retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective” ran at LACMA from September 6, 2012, to January 6, 2013, before traveling to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.