Handwork Artisan Co-Op

Located at 102 West State Street

For more information please go to https://www.handwork.coop/collections/chet-salustri

Chet Salustri: From Pop to Funk into Punk and Beyond

Chet Salustri’s new collection of ceramic sculptural works and vases is a continuation of a thread he has been following since coming of age as an artist in the 70s. He was inspired in his early days by the free expression that the Pop Art and Postmodern era of the 60s created space for. The bright colors and subject matter of everyday objects that were transformed by the likes of Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol inspired Chet to experiment with the medium of clay and set him on the path to develop his unique, bright color palette. Chet’s signature Face Cups, which are adorned with surprised expressions and toothy grins, was influenced by the Funk Art movement of the 70s with its playful whimsy defined by a push against conventional beauty in favor of the odd and offbeat. Into the 80s, the Punk era with its anti-establishment and genre bending exploration, wove its way into Chet’s influences as he continued to refine how his artistic perspective evolved through the medium of clay. Now into the current day he walks a line between the functional and sculptural work expanding his forms and subject matter with playful explorations that run from the representational to the abstract.

For this First Friday Ithaca Gallery Night along with his Handwork window display, Chet will be doing a live demonstration at the Handwork Co-op where he will assemble hand built and thrown pieces to stack shapes into a sculpture reflecting his recent collection.