George Ernston

Art Brokerage: George Ernston American Artist: b. 1945-2011. Born in 1945 in Hamburg, Germany, George Ernstson received his B.A. in Fine Arts at San Francisco State University in 1968 and his M.A. in Sculpture at the University of California, Berkeley in 1969. While at UC Berkeley, studying under the tutelage of Peter Voulkos and Ron Nagle, Ernstson discovered the industrial arts building on campus and was introduced to new materials at the time: polyester resin, fiberglass and aluminum. Creating works in these new materials, Ernstson visited Los Angeles and became instantly intrigued by the Southern California artists working in these materials, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Peter Alexander, De Wain Valentine and James Turrell; the so-called Light and Space artists. According to Ernstson, he has "experimented with the interaction of light, form, color, and scale. By restricting the composition to the linear corrugated surface, I have created a format on which the colors can react to light. The initial works appear as free-floating...projected from the wall by constructed back supports, creating shadow images which duplicate the edges of the curved surface." Ernstson's works are included in numerous Californian private and public collections, and he has won various awards for his works, including the honor of Best of Show and K.A.C.E. Award in 1968 at the Crocker-Kingsley Art Club in Sacramento. The competition that year was guest juried by Wanda Hansen of Hansen Gallery in San Francisco, Paul Mills, then curator of the Oakland Museum, and Maurice Tuchman, then curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Listings wanted.