Stories from Reality

Lois Lambert Gallery presents “Stories from Reality” a new series from sculptor David Furman.
Drawing inspiration from common objects, David invites the viewer to have an individual experience with each item, bringing their own history of interaction and significance to items often viewed primarily for their utility. He includes artmaking implements taken from his own studio as well as tin cans, brushes and chalkboards. These are monuments to the tools that are a part of our very existence. Created in what David calls the “realist idiom”, these works are “as American as apple pie” the objects that make up
most of our daily experience.
In this collection, Furman’s work is highly realistic executed with meticulous craftsmanship. In
the trompe l’oeil “The Opening Reception”, David provides commentary on the traditions of
hosting a party complete with Hors d'oeuvre plate, showing the viewer the very thing they
expect to see at such an event. David views these clay sculptures as “ersatz” objects acting as
a record of human history. With both artistic and anthropological elements, the objects he
makes can be viewed in an historical, cultural or artful context.
Furman explains, “I use clay, this incredibly amorphous mass of primordial material, that can
become anything one skilled in the ceramic process wishes it to be. I hand build, make molds,
both press and slip cast parts, I alter, slice, cut, attach, squash, and articulate forms until I
arrive at my destination.” Furman has been accused of being pretty obsessive about his
process. David explains, “I want it to have beauty and clarity about it.”
David Furman is Professor Emeritus at two of the Claremont Colleges in southern California,
where he taught for 35 years, and occupied the Peter and Gloria Gold Endowed Chair from
2004 to 2007. He's received National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and Fulbright
fellowships as well as the Irvine Foundation Enterprise Fellowship and in 2001 he received the
Getty Foundation Fellowship for Service Learning in the Arts. Furman’s work has been
exhibited at the Whitney Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Oakland
Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Art