Astronauts in the Ocean, 1960–61
Ken Price
United States, 1935–2012
Painted ceramic in a wood box construction
Gift of Laura-Lee W. Woods
M.2017.264
Listen: Music Selection
Read: Liner Notes
NASA has reported that the Venusian landscape may have held oceans in its distant past, and if these findings prove true, Kenneth Price might well have crafted the perfect vessel to send us back in time to the second planet from the Sun. Astronauts In The Ocean (1960-62) brings a sense of cosmic adventure through an assemblage of paint, ceramic, and wood, and Price, an artist with a penchant for cool jazz and proclivity for shaping biomorphic sculptures, would likely have found Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Visitor from Venus” to be a fitting soundtrack for the cosmic voyage.