Untitled (Head) / Michael Lucero
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 2008/2.245
- Title
- Untitled (Head)
- Artist
- Michael Lucero
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- (1953 - )
- Medium and Support
- glazes on white earthenware
- Object Creation Date
- circa 1985
- Object Creation Place
- North America
- American
- Creation Place 1
- North America
- Creation Place 2
- American
- Style/Group/Movement
- neo-surrealism
- Period
- Modern and contemporary
- Dimensions
- 21.59 cm x 35.56 cm x 22.86 cm (8 1/2 in. x 14 in. x 9 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Ceramic
- Primary Object Type
- head
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- landscape
- Physical Description
- White earthenware “sleeping” head lying on its right cheek (right ear omitted to lay flat) with a geometric section of crown removed. The cut at the head is painted terra cotta, the cut at the neck painted with a landscape of a tree at the edge of a cliff. A forest scene set against pink mountains covers the face, and desert rock formations in silhouette cover the back of the head.
- Subject Matter
- Part of Lucero’s Dreamers series, the artist has cut away the top of the head to allow the dreamer's thoughts to spill out onto his face.
- “The surface imagery of the Dreamers is crowded with personal icons from Lucero’s life, including...images of Northwest Coast totem poles recalling his years in Washington State, and the characteristically red earth and rugged landscapes of New Mexico where he spent childhood summers and has a home. While he was making the series, Lucero was not aware of the dream symbolism. However, looking back, he has realized that many of the craggy landscapes and shaped rocks and cliffs derived both from childhood associations, such as Camel Rock, which terrified him as a child, and from youthful nightmares.” (Mark Richard Leach, Barbara J. Bloemink and Lucy R. Lippard, Michael Lucero: sculpture 1976-1995, p. 53)
- Primary Keywords
- ceramics
- deserts
- dreams
- faces
- forests
- landscapes (representations)
- mountains
- sleeping
- surrealist
- trees
- Secondary Keywords
- upward
- biological components
- buildings and the land
- components
- components and systems
- components by specific context
- cultural landscapes
- cultural landscapes by location or context
- descriptors
- european
- european styles and periods
- events
- heads
- landforms
- landforms and landform components
- landforms by shape or position
- landscapes (environments)
- modern european fine arts styles and movements
- modern european styles and movements
- natural landscapes
- object genres
- object genres by material
- objects we use
- people and culture
- personal life events
- physical activities
- physical activities by general context
- plants
- settlements and landscapes
- styles and periods
- styles and periods by region
- the human body
- upper body
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- visual works
- visual works by subject type
- wilderness
- woody plants
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 4032 x 2476
- File Size
- 1 MB
- Record
- 2008/2.245
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2008-sl-2.245/2008_2_245_view1.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Untitled (Head); Michael Lucero." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2008-sl-2.245/2008_2_245_view1.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 23, 2024.