Who Made the UC Davis Eggheads? Biographer of Sculptor Will Speak in Bay Area

Former UC Davis professor and renowned sculptor Robert Arneson is remembered in a new biography, and the author of that book will speak in Benicia this Saturday.

Jonathan Fineberg wrote "A Troublesome Subject: The Art of Robert Arneson," a book chronicling the life of the former UC Davis professor and creator of both the UC Davis Eggheads and the controversial George Moscone bust. Fineberg will speak from 2 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Arts Benicia Gallery, and a reception will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. at Bookshop Benicia.

Here's what the Arts Benicia Gallery says about the events:

Author talk and book signing
Arts Benicia Gallery, 991 Tyler St. #114 in Benicia's Historic Arsenal
Saturday, May 11th, 2-3:30 pm 

Reception at Bookshop Benicia
Saturday May 11th, 4-5 pm, 
636 First Street
This is a FREE EVENT. Please RSVP 
Contact Bookshop Benicia 
707-747-5155

Who was Robert Arneson? 
Author Jonathan Fineberg has written the first major book to consider the life and work of Robert Arneson. 

A Troublesome Subject, The Art of Robert Arneson tells the fascinating story of how a high school art teacher transformed himself into an artist of international stature and ambition. Representing the full scope of Arneson's career in a rich survey of color reproductions, this book is at once a study of the trajectory of contemporary culture, the work of Robert Arneson, and the relationship between the two. It shows how Arneson's work articulated the crisis of narcissism that has defined American culture since 1970. Jonathan Fineberg develops his ongoing work toward a psychosocial history of art as he proceeds through Arneson's career-chronicling his early life, the formation of a personal style, and finding a unique subject matter in his famous post-1970 turn to self-portraiture.

Jonathan Fineberg is Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Art History Emeritus at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of The Innocent Eye: Children's Art and The Modern Artist, Art since 1940, and Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century American Art. He is the editor of When We Were Young: New Perspectives on the Art of the Child (UC Press).

An Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Book
University of California Press 2013

"I went to Davis and I began spending time in TB9. It's wonderful to have a major book on Arneson that describes Bob, his studio door mostly open, working, working and so we all were working, working-always encouragement always looking. It was the place I needed at that time-he included everyone in the idea of making and doing."
-Bruce Nauman

"Fineberg delves deeply into the life and art of one of America's most important and under-known artists."
-Gary Garrels, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

"The book reveals a body of work that is as complex, entangled, and internally dynamic as the world that the artist encountered."
-Hannah Higgins, University of Illinois, Chicago

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