Artist

Gerald Ferstman

Nationality

American

Doomsday Pie

Preview

Medium

Cast polyester resin and fiberglass

Height

15"

Width

15"

Depth

9"

Collection/Provenance

Art & Design Study Collection

Status

Stored: S3B

Location

UND Art Collections Repository

Artist Bio

Gerald Ferstman, who grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, teaches printmaking at the University of Kentucky. Prolific in painting and sculpture, as well as printmaking, his art has tended to be process reined and experimental in its manipulation of colorful fluid materials. Ferstman's subjects have ranged from nonrepresentational to politically and socially charged commentaries, as seen in his Doomsday Pie series of 1969.

Additional Information

A sculptural work in the shape of a pie with a red rocket shooting out of it.

This work was created during the time of the Vietnam War, as well as an enduring Cold War, when the artist was residing in Ferndale, CA. In a sense, the subject of the pie has an affinity with commonplace American things favored by Pop Artists; but Ferstman's projecting bombshell and the inscription of the word "doomsday" on the pie add a threatening tenor to the otherwise Pop subject. Because of its anti-establishment tone, Ferstman's piece seems to have more in common with West Coast Funk Art of the 1960s, such as the work of Edward Kienholz (1927-1994), than to banal New York Pop Art, which was rarely as politically charge.

Condition

Good

Rights

Images are provided for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced for commercial use. Images may be protected by artist copyright. A credit line is required to be used for any public non-commercial educational purpose. The credit line must include, “Image courtesy of the University of North Dakota.”