David Gilhooly
American, 1943 - 2013Mother-in-Law Mummy of the Neroic Period, 1972
Not on view
Stoneware
Dimensions8 × 32 × 17 in. (20.3 × 81.3 × 43.2 cm)
Gift of Dr. Robert and Deanna Harris Burger, 2015.101
The 1960s defined a dynamic period in social, political, and artistic upheaval in America that was influential in the development of contemporary ceramics. Ceramicists pushed the boundaries of form and technique. David Gilhooly was associated with the California funk ceramics movement where humor, irreverence, and whimsy were championed. Their objects, often intentionally unrefined, challenged the concept of “good” or “bad” art. Gilhooly critiqued and parodied contemporary and ancient civilizations, religion, politics, and culture through a mythical and parallel civilization known as Frog World. Frogs took on human attributes like this mummy that resembles those belonging to the Ancient Egyptian pharaohs.
