Peter Shire: Naked Is the Best Disguise

Exhibition Website

Apr 22 2017 - Jul 2 2017

Peter Shire: Naked Is the Best Disguise is a survey of Los Angeles–based artist Peter Shire’s work in design from the 1970s to the present, consisting of ceramics, furniture, and a small selection of works on paper. A key figure in Southern California’s postwar “post-pottery” ceramics movement, Shire rose to prominence in the 1980s as a member of Memphis, the Milan-based design collective. He is perhaps best known for his signature splatter-painted mugs and handcrafted earthenware produced under the name Echo Park Pottery. Peter Shire: Naked Is the Best Disguise features tables, lamps, and chairs—including Shire’s celebrated Bel Air Chair (1981)—alongside a selection of drawings providing insight into the artist’s design process. The exhibition also includes more than twenty examples of the artist’s touchstone form: the teapot.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

Whether or not you go, L.A. to LA: Peter Shire at LSU showcases internationally renowned artist and desinger, Peter Shire, who revolutionized the design of household objects, striving to express modernist tenets while examining the practical needs of society. The artist's playful attitude toward life translates into his bold, colorful artworks and functional household constructions. Shire's art in all its forms-furniture ceramics, glass, sculpture, or drawing-captures the colors, exuberance, and rhythm of life in Los Angeles, while simultaneously transcending local boundaries and cultural contexts.

L.A. to LA: Peter Shire at LSU

  • American
  • Design
  • Peter Shire

Exhibition Venues & Dates