Victor Spinski • American (1940-2013)
Tool Box 1 C: 1998 • Clay 15" x 12" x 7”
A box filled with paper bags, nuts, bolts and paint brushes. In a museum? Really? What’s the joke? Victor Spinski’s art is never what you think it is, a trick he learned from the young Chinese boy’s father. if you come downtown to see Spinksi’s Tool Box I you’ll wonder what this is all about. Look again. If those nails were ever struck with a hammer they would shatter. Everything in this box – including the box itself – is made of fragile, fired clay. Say what??!?
The young boy who survived an adventurous youth in war-torn Europe, grew up to become one of the most talented ceramic artists his adopted American homeland has ever seen. This Polish born, Russian Literature major and Purple Heart soldier in Vietnam drew inspiration from an obscure group of eastern Chinese artists who scattered to the four winds when their home was invaded by Japan before the second World War. Nothing is as it first appears.
While researching teapots, Spinski stumbled upon the work of the Yixing (yesshing) artists who created ceramic teapots to look like they were made from any material other than clay. Tree trunks, rocks, branches. The Yixing made exquisitely crafted teapots that forced people to think about them. Spinski had found his soulmates.
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ARTe has presented other artists who specialize in Trompe L’Oeil, (Fool-The-Eye) art. But never have we seen a ceramic sculpture that looks like it could never be made of clay. Making raw earth look like a delicately creased, almost translucent paper bag requires a talent and technical mastery few ceramic artists enjoy. It also requires a certain off-beat perspective on the world. Victor Spinski had both in spades.
While teaching for over 35 years at the University of Delaware, Spinski sculpted “industrial society’s utilitarian materials” from clay. He replicated Styrofoam cups, metal paint cans, glass and cardboard teapots, in a series of sculptures that often contained a humorous twist.
When Victor Spinski died in 2013, a special memorial blog post in “Musing About Mud” noted “Victor’s acute wit was often animated through the juxtaposition of contradictory elements and fabrication that was so highly skilled as to confound our powers of perception.” For a boy driven out of his home by the Nazis, a life filled with humor and wit was the ultimate revenge.
Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Purchased with funds from Doran Foundation, 999.3
4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art
1.
“His first teapot looked like it was made from flammable cardboard. He crafts objects so well, they never look as though they were made of clay.”
2.
“The Yixing craftsmen of pre-war eastern China were an inspiration to him. Say Yixing ten times fast and you’ll turn into a ceramic teapot that looks like a tree.”
3.
“Spinski’s work often looked disorderly, but ‘within this purposeful chaos he (sought) to achieve unity and order.’”
4.
“His obituary said he left behind a wife, son, daughter-in-law, ‘2 dogs, 3 stray cats, a flock of crows and an undetermined number of squirrels, groundhogs and mice.’”
Spinski Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.
