The exhibit blends humor, community engagement and everyday materials to challenge viewers’ ideas about identity
By ALMA CULVERWELL — city@theaggie.org
The Pence Gallery has launched its 50th anniversary programming with a wide-ranging exhibition by Emeryville-based artist Robert Ortbal, known for transforming everyday materials into imaginative sculptures that blur the boundaries between human, animal and abstract forms.
The show brings together several of Ortbal’s ongoing series, including his Daffodil graffiti works, his mask heads, his Samaritans figurines and his barter-based performances at local farmers markets.
Ortbal is an art professor in the Sculptural Department at Sacramento State University, with a career that spans major exhibitions and which has garnered national recognition. He has presented solo shows at the Oakland Museum of California, 911 Media Arts Center in Seattle and Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado. His work has also appeared in group exhibitions at institutions such as the University of California (UC) Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the Bedford Gallery at the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts and The Lab in San Francisco.
More recently, Ortbal was included in the 20th anniversary exhibition of the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Artists Gallery. His awards include the Leff Davis Foundation Grant, a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and a research grant from the College of Arts and Letters at Sacramento State.
Natalie Nelson, the Pence Gallery director who developed the exhibition over the last several years, explained how she first became intrigued by Ortbal’s work.
“I was interested in his work following a studio visit to his place in Emeryville,” Nelson said. “He proposed including several series in the exhibit, including his Daffodil graffiti, his trading at Farmer’s Markets, the mask heads and the Samaritans, a series of tiny figures and matching cases.”.
Nelson recalled her experience participating in one of his past performance events at the Davis Farmers Market.
“I was really interested in how he used events as a means of engaging the community,” Nelson said. “So, I put on a bunny head and participated in one of his events at the Davis Farmer’s Market in spring 2024. I really enjoyed the experience, especially how the public seemed to be delighted by the interactions with his costumed players. It’s a novel experience when a normally dressed person from the neck down puts on a giant bunny, cat or dog head; his heads are a marvel to see.”
Nelson explained how Ortbal’s materials are intentionally ordinary.
“People are amazed that most of the materials Robert uses are everyday materials — paper, cardboard, wire. It’s his inventive transformation that really is remarkable, where the figure merges into an animal, object or plant-like form.”
The installation at the Pence Gallery rises nearly 15 to 20 feet, using conduit as a framework to suspend Ortbal’s sculptural heads throughout the gallery. Nelson commented on the messaging behind Ortbal’s work on display in the exhibit.
“I think the artist wants [us] to question our own identity, our own species and its ability to morph and shift into other forms,” Nelson said. “And [he wants us] to laugh; he uses parody and humor as a means of making us question social constructs. For example: Why do we trade money for an object? What if we went back to barter? Who decides what is a valuable unit of trade?”
As the first exhibition in the Pence Gallery’s 50th anniversary schedule, Nelson noted that Ortbal’s work felt like the “right way” to begin.
“We wanted to start with a different type of exhibit for us,” Nelson said. “One that is really widespread and connects to the community in a different way.”
Nelson also hoped that visitors leave inspired; not only by Ortbal’s creativity, but also by the accessibility of his approach. She also hoped the exhibit will draw more community members into the gallery throughout its anniversary year.
“I hope that people will take away from the exhibit the idea that art can be made out of everyday materials, and that anyone can be a force of change,” Nelson said. “Humor and satire can be a means of provocation and can be disruptive in a way that other modes of communication just [aren’t]. And, of course, I hope that they come back to the Pence, where admission is always free and the exhibits are always changing.”
By Alma Culverwell— city@theaggie.org
