October 16, 2004
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Friday October 15, 2004
They’re egg-cellent!
UC Davis students are the real Eggheads
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Krysten Kellum / Aggie
Installed in May 1994 north of Mrak Hall, “Eye of the Mrak (Fatal Laff)” is one of seven painted bronze statues that make up the “egghead series” by Robert Arneson.
Bookhead, with his nose to the grindstone in front of Shields Library, is believed to bring good luck to those who touch him on their way to finals. He, like all of the UC Davis eggheads, is rich in history.
Commissioned by the Campus Art in Public Places Work Group to create artwork for an outdoor site, the eggheads are the brainchild of the late Robert Arneson – noted ceramist and professor at UCD from 1962 to 1991. Eggheads, slang for intellectuals in general and academics in particular, have become one of the most recognizable landmarks on campus.
Arneson completed the five acrylic-on-bronze eggheads before his death in 1992, but was only able to install two of them – Bookhead, the first of the series and the only one coated in car paint, and Yin and Yang, located at the Fine Arts Complex. The other three, See No Evil/Hear No Evil on the east lawn of King Hall, Eye on Mrak (“Fatal Laff”) north of Mrak Hall, and Stargazer between North Hall and Young Hall, were installed in May 1994.
UCD Visitor Services Manager Lanette Rodriguez said four of the eggheads are part of student and parent tours. Tour guides note the art is representative of student life. She said Yin and Yang show the duality on campus and the “passive-aggressive” nature of students.
Susanne Rockwell, UCD spokesperson, wrote in a 1995 conference paper that Stargazer and Bookhead are linked in duality: “The library sculpture can be read as the short sighted person who knows only from books, while Stargazer sees beyond what most mortals do,” she wrote.
There is another dichotomy, though – the eggheads are hurt in the process of being loved by the student body, a fact that probably would have amused Arneson, a prankster, to some extent. Frequently the subject of pranks, the eggheads have been painted as Easter eggs, adorned with a frying pan and a side of bacon, and Yin and Yang have been permanently defaced with the name “Ian” carved into one of them.
Tracy Power, of Tracy Power Object Conservation in San Francisco, told UC Davis magazine that Bookhead incurs the most damage. She claims it is because he is often used as a skateboard ramp. While such blatant abuses were never intended, Arneson did want the eggheads to play an intimate role in life at UCD.
Shortly before his death, Arneson left a statement asking the campus never to compromise that close interaction – he wanted the eggheads to be touched, leaned against and used as the backdrop for pictures.
The eggheads have been refurbished biannually by TPOC in past years. The undertaking required Power and her colleagues to spend two days touching up paint, washing and applying a new coat of protective wax. Following their cleaning and repair, their current state was recorded. According to Power, the eggheads have not been cleaned in the past few years because changes in staff have placed cleaning the outdoor art on the back burner.
Unfortunately, even with more regular upkeep, complete restoration is impossible. Evidence of this can be seen in the pink tinge left behind on See No Evil/Hear No Evil, where a vandal’s paint could not be completely removed. On several eggheads, strings that have been used to attach things like hats and beards to the structures have cut into their finish.
Not yet as eroded as the originals, replicas of Yin and Yang cast from Arneson’s original molds in 2002 were installed at the Justin Herman Plaza fountain in San Francisco, across from the Port of San Francisco Ferry Building. They were dedicated in mid-December 2003.
UCD senior Anthea Maybury said, “It’s a rare occurrence when artwork becomes part of everyday life. I think the artist would be more than pleased the eggheads have become part of UC Davis tradition.”
It is also likely, however, that he would not want damages to prevent future students, faculty and staff from enjoying the art in years to come.
Several memorial funds have been established in Arneson’s memory, including one that supports graduate art students. He is credited with taking ceramic sculpture to art form status and he was a pivotal figure in the California funk art movement.
Arneson’s inspiration and legacy prompted faculty members in the Art Department to endow a chair in Ceramic Sculpture in his memory. There were no chairs of that type in the nation prior to the endowment.
MELISSA B. TADDEI can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.
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