SAN DIEGO, CA.- The San Diego Museum of Art announces the arrival of Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition, the first major museum exhibition for the noted contemporary ceramicist. Organized by The San Diego Museum of Art, this show includes works from the 1960s to the present, many of which have never been shown. Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition is on view from November 1, 2014 to February 17, 2015.

Nagle is an internationally acclaimed ceramicist and sculptor. Influenced and inspired by fearless pioneers such as Peter Voulkos and Ken Price, he is considered among the foremost Abstract Expressionist ceramicists. Also known for his career as a singer/songwriter, Nagle’s work was among the highlights of The New Museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni's exhibition at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

In San Diego, curated by Ariel Plotek, Associate Curator of Modern Art, Nagle’s ceramic works are displayed in long window cases alongside a selection of preparatory sketches. Featuring notable works such as Lobster Boy and Car Bomb, the exhibition showcases 19 ceramic sculptures and 11 drawings. The show’s title Peripheral Cognition calls attention to “peripheral points of departure,” or the stream of conscious state of mind that comes while creating.

With an architect’s attention to detail and a graffiti artist’s irreverence, Nagle has been forming small objects mostly out of clay for the past 50 years. Although relatively small in size, his ceramic sculptures are big on beauty. Initially referencing ceramic vessels, his work has evolved to forms that are less referential to pottery yet still maintain certain ceramic elements. With a quintessentially Californian aesthetic, Nagle’s signature style is funky yet unfailingly sophisticated. Each form Nagle shapes acquires multiple meanings, wrapped in a riddle of puns and allusions often referenced in their titles.

“Ron Nagle was inventing Post-Modernism years before it became fashionable. He was part of the California revolution in American pottery that took place in the 1960s,” says Roxana Velásquez, Maruja Baldwin Executive Director at The San Diego Museum of Art. “We’re honored to host the artist’s first major solo museum exhibition. With the addition of Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition, we’re able to further showcase the Museum’s interest in contemporary art.”