Bricks built the West and Robert Arneson is from the West. Coincidence? We think not.

Firstly, start playing The Commodores' Brick House then read my review.

Alright, so maybe the foundation of this piece is built on more than a West Coast reference, but since utilitarian objects and nods to California are the brick and mortar of Arneson's career it may be that simple.

Arneson earned his stacks (and that's a fact) on the construction of beer bottles, toilets, and yes, bricks. He demonstrated his artistic mighty might by lettin' it all hang out, unapologetically leaving finger prints and dents in the clay to give otherwise anonymous objects an identity.

You could say he knew how to build and knew how to please, throwing clay with innate expertise. Between this lingering trace of the artist, the not so lingering surname stamped on the top of the clay and the geographical allusion this is a terra-riffic self-portrait that you cotta see.