Rick Oginz Signed 1999 Painted Wood Sculptural 6-Drawer Jewelry Cabinet

Details

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Rick Oginz (American, b. 1944)
Signed & Dated 1999 Hand-Painted Sculptural Wooden Miniature Chest / Functional Art Cabinet

A striking … Read more Rick Oginz (American, b. 1944)
Signed & Dated 1999 Hand-Painted Sculptural Wooden Miniature Chest / Functional Art Cabinet

A striking and highly individual artist-made sculptural cabinet by American visual artist Rick Oginz, signed and dated 1999 to the underside. Executed in painted wood, this one-of-a-kind miniature chest combines the spirit of functional art with the bold graphic presence of a small sculpture, featuring a vivid red ground enlivened by Oginz’s characteristic hand-painted black zigzag motifs and stylized figural imagery.

The cabinet is raised on four shaped legs and fitted with six drawers arranged in three rows of two, each with a hand-painted carved pull echoing the geometric surface design. The drawers open smoothly and are lined in a deep cobalt-blue material, creating a dramatic contrast to the painted exterior. Compact in scale yet visually commanding, the piece functions beautifully as a jewelry cabinet, keepsake chest, apothecary-style box, or decorative tabletop sculpture.

This work is especially appealing in the context of Oginz’s long career as a sculptor known for imaginative, often playful works that blur the line between sculpture and useful object. Oginz has exhibited widely and has a documented history of presenting functional art / sculptural furniture, including exhibitions with Lois Lambert Gallery and the Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica around the same period as this piece. The present cabinet fits naturally within that aspect of his practice, where whimsical form, hand-worked surface, and interactive elements come together in a distinctly personal visual language.

The cabinet’s strong postmodern character also gives it broad decorative appeal—equally at home in an eclectic contemporary interior, a Memphis-inspired setting, or a collection of artist-designed furniture and studio craft.

Details:

Artist: Rick Oginz (American, born 1944)
Date: 1999
Medium: Painted wood
Form: Miniature chest / sculptural cabinet / functional art object
Signature: Signed and dated to underside
Dimensions: 14” H x 7” W x 7” D
Condition:

Very good vintage condition overall, with light expected wear consistent with age and hand-crafted construction. Presents beautifully. Please review all photographs carefully, as they form part of the description and condition report.

A rare and engaging example of late 20th-century artist-designed functional sculpture—a piece that works equally well as a collectible object, conversation piece, and usable cabinet.

Rick Oginz BIO:

Rick Oginz has been making sculpture and drawings for over five decades. Inspired by science, technology, and his immediate surroundings he explores the major events and innovations that are unique to our lifetimes. Oginz uses pop iconography and the commonplace object to examine modern and timeless modalities of transportation, communication, and identity. Within the work there is a strong trend towards describing his immediate surroundings, whether it be Oakland, CA where Oginz had a studio from 2013-2020 or Sonoma, CA where Oginz relocated his studio in 2020. There is a tremendous range of imagery in his drawings and sculptures including, iPhones, flat screen TVs, container ships, engines, cyclotrons, drones, SUV’s, human organs, 9/11, and the earth as seen from space. In each city where Oginz has lived, he has depicted landmarks that define each region: The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia in Los Angeles; the CN Tower of Toronto; the Port of Oakland and Bay Bridge and most recently the Jack London Wolf House Ruins. These are images, places and objects that have become the icons of our era and ruminations on what is human and what humans create.

​While the content of his work is significant to its identity, his vision is driven by vivid and often playful imagination. Oginz articulates spaces and gives life to the inanimate. Manipulation of scale is central to his work; he juxtaposes the minute with the infinite. There is an inherent sense of humor in the work, for example: a flat screen TV fabricated from wood that depicts San Francisco’s skyline with a cluster of drones overhead or The Cyclotron Series of drawings where Oginz speculates what might happen if he built a particle accelerator in his studio. The artist has created a symbiotic relationship between drawing and sculpture and most of his exhibitions consist of both. Many compositions operate within the context of an interior space, often the artist’s studio. Windows, screens, and pictures incorporated in imagined environments serve to generate multi-dimensional worlds. Oginz says, “The studio interior is a metaphor for my mind, and I consider the interplay of interior and exterior as a reference to the subjective and the objective.” Interior views characterize his drawings but do not comprise the entirety of the artist’s works on paper. Many drawings are emblematic, in that a single iconic image such as a hand holding a cell phone, a pelvic bone, or the front of a SUV is seen alone.

​The sculptures represent similar themes but have a commanding physicality. Many of the artist’s sculptures have an interactive component. The viewer is invited to engage with the piece by pushing or pulling a sculpture that is animated in unexpected ways by its wheels rotation. Some pieces have a distinct interior and exterior and the viewer can open doors or pull out a drawer. Oginz is a multi-media artist who applies his sophisticated understanding of materials to his art making and constantly integrates new techniques into his process. Playfulness comes through in the construction and kinetic aspects of the artist’s work. As a maker Oginz seeks to convey his observations of the ever – changing landscape of our species’ progression. See less