Photograph by Noah Webb

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The web exclusive that follows is an extension
of In the Studio: Nathan Mabry, an article originally published in the March 2008 issue of Art+Auction.

NEW YORK—Nathan Mabry’s sculptures look so peculiar and powerful that it’s hard to think of him having mentors. But as an MFA student at UCLA, he did establish relationships with several of L.A.’s leading artists. He took classes with the ever-cool Conceptualist John Baldessari as well as with the polymorphously perverse Paul McCarthy. At the same time, he worked for a couple of summers as a studio assistant to Jason Rhoades, a onetime student of McCarthy’s who died in 2006 shortly after completing his massive Dionysian installation “Black Pussy.” Jori Finkel asked Mabry about his experiences with these artists.

What was it like to have Paul McCarthy as a teacher? 

He was amazing. Whenever he saw you in the hallway, he would put his arm around you and ask how things were going. He’d offer to swing by your studio. And I’m always interested in his work. To a certain extent, the objects he produces could be considered classical sculpture, even when he’s imbuing these objects with very different meanings and using unconventional materials.

How about John Baldessari, who I hear is very generous with his time and ideas? 

When John would do a studio visit, we would talk about a variety of topics ranging from historical art processes to Paris Hilton. John’s kind of like George Carlin meets the Dalai Lama. I remember one meeting in particular when John brought up a “phone in” project. He basically said, “Why don’t you try to call a sculptor and a painter, describe what you want them to make and see what you get?” 

Did you try it?

Yes, in a way. I had been working on a series of “concrete piñatas.” I would find ready-made piñatas from vendors on street corners, put them in different configurations and then encase them in concrete. They became these figurative, totemic modernist sculptures, while at the same time defying their initial use and becoming indestructible. So after thinking about the phone-in idea in relation to this project, I e-mailed pictures of a reconstruction of the Parthenon to piñata makers and had them respond to the building. What they made looked like everything from birdcages to birthday cakes. Ultimately, when they were destroyed, they looked more like what they were referencing—the ruins of Greek temples as we know them.

What did you do as a studio assistant to Rhoades?

We were assembling the “Meccatuna” piece for his David Zwirner show in 2003. It was one of Jason’s installations filled with neon signs that were phrases for the female anatomy, like “bald man in a boat,” “gorilla salad,” “wizard sleeve.” There were thousands of euphemisms he had found. My main job day to day was putting the signs together by tying premade neon words to sheets of colored Plexiglas with different types of leather and lace. 

And what did you take away from him—I mean take into your own work? 

I would say approach, attitude, lust for life, disregard of tradition, challenging culture and overt sexuality.

I first saw his work during my sophomore year as an undergraduate, when I worked for an event-decorating company that did a Cuban-theme birthday party for the art collector Norah Stone at her Calistoga ranch. She and her husband [Norman] had amazing pieces by Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Cady Noland and many more. I was complimenting them on their collection and asking a lot of questions about Koons and Kippenberger. I think they were excited that a 20-year-old from Napa was interested, and they invited me to their home in San Francisco overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. It was (and is) filled with the most outstanding art: Beuys, Polke, Duchamp, Sherman, and in the basement there was a Koons equilibrium tank, a Serra prop piece, a Baldessari early text work and a refrigeration unit with a Matthew Barney “Vaseline” weight bench.

Upstairs, in what I believe they called the kids’ room, was an installation by Jason. You walk in the closet, and the installation is on the other side of a piece of glass. It consisted of tinfoil-type trophies, kid stuff and a lot of sausage. Apple-sized holes were drilled in the glass so the viewer could pick up one of the BB guns behind it and shoot at the installation. I just remember the feeling of permission and possibilities at once: You can do whatever you want.

"A Talk with Sculptor Nathan Mabry" was comissioned for the March 2008 web release of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's March 2008 Table of Contents.