1977

Stack Pot

American, 1924 - 2002

Regarded by many as the founding figure of the American “clay revolution,” Peter Voulkos invented a form he called a “stack pot” in the mid-1960s. This sculpture represents his appreciation for imperfection informed by Asian aesthetic philosophy commingled with his interest in the material, process, and immediacy of Abstract Expressionism. With its four distinct volumes, each thrown on a potter’s wheel and assembled, Stack Pot has a totemic presence. Never intending for his stack pots to be classified as anthropomorphic, Voulkos gave the work a figurative quality. The distinctive form—defined by line, shape, and gesture—is distinguished by a sinuous profile with inscribed lines, gouges, and punctures on its surface.