Hap Sakwa

HAP SAKWA (Los Angeles, 1950).
Vase, Buckeye, Arizona, 1980s.
Patinated walnut root.
Serialized, issue 11/80.
Signed, located and numbered on the base.
Measurements: 15 x 11 x 10 cm.

Hap Sakwa was a leader in the modern woodworking movement that revolutionized the craft in the 1970s and 1980s, elevating it to an art form by creating narrative sculptural objects using polychrome woods and found objects. From 1988 to 1993, Sakwa took an artistic turn to another facet producing a series of mosaic sculptures and pop art found objects juxtaposing American imagery, puns and brightly colored patterns. In 1994 he turned his attention to photography and became one of the country's most distinguished jewelry photographers. His work is held in the following museums: Museum of Modern Art - New York; Museum of Art and Design - New York; The De Young Museum of Art - San Francisco; The Oakland Museum of California - Oakland; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Los Angeles; Minneapolis Art Institute - Minneapolis; Arkansas Arts Center - Little Rock, Arkansas; Yale University Art Gallery - New Haven, Connecticut; American University Art Gallery - Washington, D.C; Carnegie Museum of Art - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art - Logan, Utah; Mint Museum - Charlotte, North Carolina; Newark Museum of Art - Newark, New Jersey; The Center for Art in Wood - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kamm Teapot Foundation - Statesville, North Carolina.