Electric Mud

"The sizzling, scintillating juice that flows between viewers and the works in this show may seem to be magic because none of them has to be plugged in," writes Los Angeles Times critic David Pagel, extolling the media featured in Electric Mud, which is published concurrently with an exhibition that Pagel organized at Houston's Blaffer Gallery. Pagel's "juice" and the "electric mud" of this volume's title refer to paint and clay, which are examined here for their physical similarities and fluid boundaries. Six full-color illustrations are given to each artist included: Brian Calvin, Anna Sew Hoy, Ron Nagle, Michael Reafsnyder, James Richards and Patrick Wilson--all of whom collapse the fictitious distinctions between art and craft, painting and ceramics, form and function, leisure and labor, still life and real life, confounding the boundaries between each. The edition includes essays by Pagel and Sara Cochran, Phoenix Art Museum curator.