ARTWORK
Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present this collection of works by sculptor and painter, Roy Superior (1934 â 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.
SCULPTURE
ILLUSTRATION
ABOUT
Roy Superior, Artist Portrait
ROY SUPERIOR
American, b. 1934, Noew York, NY
d. 2013, Williamsburg, MA
Considering himself more as a creator, Roy did not want to be confined to one genre of art. His focus was to be a fine craftsman and to create beautiful objects, rather than being considered just a woodworker or just a painter. Like Mara, he also attended the Pratt Institute, earning his BFA, followed by a short study abroad at the Institution Allende in San Miguel De Allende in Mexico. He completed his MFA from Yale University in 1962. His works are currently at the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Racine Art Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum.
In 2018 and 2019, KFI acquired a collection of 72 pieces of Mara and Royâs artwork. After preservation work by KFI staff and conservation by Meghan Mackey and Jack Larimore, the pieces were gifted to 17 institutions including Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Peabody Essex Museum, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum (CA), Racine Art Museum (WI) and Fuller Craft Museum (MA).
ABOUT HIS WORK
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 â 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.
EXHIBITIONS & COLLECTIONS
Roy Superior: Patent Models for a Good Life
February 7 â April 19, 2014
The Center for Art in Wood hosted a visual biography of painter, sculptor, and wood worker, Roy Superior, featuring his functional furniture, pen and ink drawings, and patent models of imaginary machines.
âRoy had a voracious appetite for the world,â said Leslie Ferrin of Ferrin Contemporary. âHe observed, appreciated, considered, questioned, and ate well. Then he returned the favor.â
âHe invented, painted, carved, drew, sculpted, and venerated Italian food. The result of this good life was a collection of finely crafted furniture, sculpture, and drawings that reflects his philosophical mind, benevolent psyche, and humorous imagination.â
The show includes several of Superiorâs miniature-scale sculptures. These meticulously executed pieces are made from wood, antique ivory, paper, paint, and clay. Many have moving partsâspinning 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. His respectfully irreverent commentary breathes new life into old ideas in such pieces as âPeace Missileâ and his shrines to ham, cheese, and truffles.
In 2018 and 2019, Kohler Foundation, Inc. acquired a collection of 72 pieces of Mara and Roy Superiorâs artwork. After preservation work by KFI staff and conservation by Meghan Mackey and Jack Larimore, the pieces were gifted to 17 institutions including Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Peabody Essex Museum, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum (CA), Racine Art Museum (WI) and Fuller Craft Museum (MA).
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
The Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired a number of pieces from Roy Superior’s catalog.
VIDEOS
“The artist Roy Superior died last summer and I never got to meet him. But thanks to his friends, colleagues, and former students, and a magnificent show of his work at The Center for Art in Wood, I feel I have gotten to know this brilliant and funny Renaissance man, and with luck I can share him with you through this film. He moved from illustration to fine art painting and drawing ad then onto wood. His work is profoundly imaginative, beautifully crafted, and intensely humane.”
-John Thornton
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