Larry Buller
Larry Buller
Larry Buller is a ceramic artist based in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 2016 he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Hixson-Lied College Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska. Since graduating his work has been included in numerous regional and national exhibitions. He currently has work at the Bemis Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska and at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California. This March his work will be part of the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) national exhibition in Cincinnati, Ohio. Larry has completed artist residencies at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village, Colorado and at Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana. This spring he will be an artist in residence at the Center for Ceramics in Berlin, Germany. In addition to his studio work Larry is a part-time lecturer with Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
My art at first glance suggests the domestic, ornamental nature of many ceramic objects, but upon closer look one discovers a showy, transgressive content that is conceptualized around issues of gay sexuality, the phallus and sexual fetish objects or toys. These highly decorative pieces resonate with my varied experiences as a gay man. Clay presents one endless possibilities for form and surface decoration and is therefore the perfect medium for my subversive intentions. I revel in blending the rich historical language of ceramics art with the low-brow, overly decorative and often kitsch nature of craft which can often be had for the cheap at flea markets. I invite the viewer to take delight in the excessive and glitzy nature of my work as they discover a more sinister objective. I use decals, gold luster, fake fur, glitter and plastic gem stones to "queer up" the surface quality of my work and in doing so also question the nature of what is considered to be in "good taste" for the domestic setting. In a larger sense, I feel that my work acts as a metaphor for my life as an out gay man who does not often "fit in" to the conventional role society defines for men. My intention is not to shock the viewer but rather to create a dialog around topics generally not openly discussed in "polite" society around issues of masculinity, sexual expression between men and the roll of fetish objects in the gay community.