ROY SUPERIOR

WORKS

Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present this collection of works by sculptor and painter, Roy Superior (1934 – 2013). The work offered here comes from both the artist’s collection and that of Allan Stone, a well-known collector of late twentieth-century art.

Roy Superior, “Shaker Rocker Shaker”, 1984, wood, metal, string, 17 x 9.75 x 10″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Good Work is Its Own Reward”, 1985, wood, metal, 13.5 x 19 x 12″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Shaker Dragster”, 1984, wood, metal, leather, wax, string, 9.75 x 24 x 8.75″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Texas Shaker Rocker”, 1984, wood, metal, bone, leather, 16 x 13.5 x 10.5″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “The Oracle” 1983-4, wood, metal string, motor, 34 x 25.5 x 9.625″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Shaker Nautilus Exercise Machine”, 1984, wood, metal, string, 14.5 x 8.5 x 23″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “The Critic”, 1983, wood, metal, 21.5 x 9 x 18″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Shaker Snowmobile”, 1984, metal, wood, caning, 11 x 7 x 13″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Sawbones”, 1986, wood, mixed media, 11.5 x 18 x 12″. (Allan Stone Collection)
Roy Superior, “Peace Missile”, 1985, wood, brass, music box, 20 x 7 12″. (Collection of the Artist)
Roy Superior, “Patent Model for a Good Life”, 1995, soaps stone, wood, polychrome, leather, silver, brass, bone, 20 x 10.25″. (Collection of the Artist)
Roy Superior, “Olive Museum”, 2008, wood, mixed media, 32 x 24 x10″. (Collection of the Artist)
Roy Superior, “Coreglia Anteluinelli, Toscana, Italia”, 2005, pen & ink, 20 x 16.5″. (Collection of the Artist)
Roy Superior, “Castelnuovo Garfagnana, Toscana, Italia” 2006, pen & ink, 16.5 x 20.5″. (Collection of the Artist)
Roy Superior, “Ideal Man”, 2007, pen & ink. (Private Collection) A limited edition print is available.

 

ABOUT

Superior’s meticulously executed sculptural pieces are made from wood, antique ivory, bone, and gold leaf with brass and copper hand-made hardware. Many of the machines have moving parts – spinning wooden propellers or delicate flapping wings. In each, Superior sought to depict the inner workings of the common man, to expose some universal insight into human nature with his gentle irreverence.

ROY SUPERIOR: PATENT MODELS FOR A GOOD LIFE
A remembrance of a creative life in sculpture and drawings

The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia
Feb 7–Apr 19, 2014

This visual biography of painter, sculptor, and wood worker Roy Superior, features his pen and ink drawings and patent models of imaginary machines. In speaking of Superior, Albert LeCoff, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Art in Wood, noted, “He considered himself an absurdist, a risk taker, an ever curious observer of the human condition. He made full use of irony as a tool to make his commentary.” Roy Superior’s exhibition presents a thorough retrospective of his career by including his sculptures, pieces of furniture, and drawings from throughout his Good Life.

INQUIRE