Antony Natsoulas

Anthony 'Tony' Natsoulas (born 1959 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American sculptor and contemporary artist.

Numerous galleries and museums such as the Monterey Museum of Art, La Mirada, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and San Jose Museum of Art have exhibited Tony Natsoulas' work in the past; there are several large-scale pieces in public spaces.

Anthony Natsoulas grew up in Davis.

In high school, he attended classes taught by Robert Arneson and visited the studio of Clayton Bailey.

Natsoulas attended California State University, Sacramento, where he studied with Robert Brady and Ruth Rippon.

He returned to UC Davis in 1979 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982.

After a year of study at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, he returned to UC Davis for his MFA and began exhibiting his life-size figurative ceramic sculptures at the Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco.

Natsoulas' works generally depict people, often engaged in whimsical activities.

The physical features of the subjects are often exaggerated to give them a sense of humor or playfulness.

The double sculpture The Joggers (1986) stands in front of Davis' historic City Hall, formerly home to the Fire Department and later the Davis Police Department.

Another sculpture stands in the University of Davis library.

Natsoulas: I remember what Bob Arneson said to us as students, “Always push your work, never be satisfied, it's art, Experiment!”

Ceramic bust "Christian Warlich" by Anthony Natsoulas.

A life-size painted bronze titled Balancing Act Too (1993) has stood in Sacramento's Plaza Cervantes since 2015.

"His figures range from commissioned works to ceramic portraits of celebrities, sometimes depicted in period costume. Details and themes are influenced by images from popular culture, absurdist television shows, people, toys, cartoons, plays, and nostalgic movies. Natsoulas began making larger-than-life, exaggerated ceramic busts in 1997. He uses a similar sculptural technique to Arneson: his sculptures lack depth from front to back. His figures are caricatures, often with enlarged heads. His approach to the work is influenced by Robert Arneson, his former teacher at the University of California, Davis."

Natsoulas also makes large objects for public spaces.

From November 2019 to May 2020, the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte presented a special exhibition titled Tattoo Legends.

Christian Warlich on St. Pauli, which was curated by Ole Wittmann; technical support and scientific assistant Manfred Kohrs.

Natsoulas made a ceramic bust of Warlich especially for this exhibition, which was presented in the exhibition.

The glaze for the work was made by tattoo and ceramic artist Britton McFetridge.