Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Frank Dolejska
"Let's" Modern Abstract Copper Metal Fish Word Art Wall Sculpture

1975

About the Item

Modern abstract fish sculpture made of copper by Houston, TX artist Frank Dolejska. The work features a rounded fish shape with the word "let's" on the front in three dimensional lettering. Signed, dated, and location notated on the back. A nail is attached to the reverse for easy hanging on a wall. Artist Biography: Frank Dolejska was born in Houston, Texas on February 25, 1921. He was the first-generation child of immigrant parents from Austria-Hungary and Moravia. Along with Robert Preusser, Dolejska was among the first non-objective painters in Texas with works dating back to 1938. While primarily self-taught, he was a student of McNeill Davidson for a brief time. After serving in World War 2, Dolejska returned to Houston where he became the curator for the new organization, the Contemporary Arts Association. Leaving the CAA in 1956, Dolejska took up metal work, creating sculptures with copper and lead. His early paintings are rare because he burnt many of them. Dolejska passed in Houston on May 30, 1989.
  • Creator:
    Frank Dolejska (1921 - 1989, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1975
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 3.75 in (9.53 cm)Width: 5.5 in (13.97 cm)Depth: 0.13 in (3.31 mm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Houston, TX
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: CA204.2022.0426.37921stDibs: LU551310091772
More From This SellerView All
You May Also Like
  • Checkmate, inscribed copper sheet, acrylic paint, asphaltum, ink, metal frame
    Located in Toronto, Ontario
    CHECKMATE by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with black ink, acrylic paint, and asphaltum. It is framed in aluminum and measures 108 x 48”. It features some of the artist’s notable motifs – the number 13-1/2 (refers to 12 jurors, 1 judge, half a chance), a monstrous tower of brick with crenelated towers, inlaid with eyes, hooked daggers and barred windows, clouds with lightening bolts, tongues of flame drifting down... Though the swirl of black cloud near the top of the tower also rewards our attention – the engraving here suggesting floral as well as cosmic patterns, biological patterns. Checkmate also contains more subtle mark-making and ritualized ornamentation, such as the wheat sheafs across the expanse of copper, names of people are inscribed in the borders of the tower, vertical hash marks counting off months or years in bundles of five. For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness. With striking imagery of demonic towers toppled in flames, horrific machines and cryptic symbols of oppression, Rocky's work soon became a recognized and sought-after stamp of organized resistance. Several of his prints are held in collections, particularly the “Carnival Against Capitalism” poster he produced for the 2001 Quebec City protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Rocky’s poster...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Mixed Media

    Materials

    Metal, Copper

  • Medusa, outsider artist etches copper, paint, cut diamonds, ink, aluminum frame
    Located in Toronto, Ontario
    MEDUSA by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with cut diamonds, blue machinist ink and fired porcelain paint. It measures 36 x 48", and framed in aluminum it measures 37 x 49”. It features some of the artist’s notable motifs – a monstrous brick wall with crenelated and flaming towers, inlaid with sparkles of diamond and glass, sword-like flames. New for the artist are the twisting, turning bodies of which there are at least eight. The deep blue background of machinist ink coating the copper provides a momentous, mythological night sky. For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness. With striking imagery of demonic towers toppled in flames, horrific machines and cryptic symbols of oppression, Rocky's work soon became a recognized and sought-after stamp of organized resistance. Several of his prints are held in collections, particularly the “Carnival Against Capitalism” poster he produced for the 2001 Quebec City protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Rocky’s poster...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Mixed Media

    Materials

    Metal, Copper

  • Trailer Prison, hand-inscribed copper sheet, black ink
    Located in Toronto, Ontario
    TRAILER PRISON by Rocky Dobey is a hand-inscribed copper sheet with black ink. It measures 60x36” and slightly less than .25" thick. It features some of the artist’s repeating motifs – the number 13-1/2 appears here as 12 + 1 + 1/2 in the trailer windows. The number refers to 12 jurors, 1 judge, half a chance. Rocky says all his structures are prisons, and this trailer with tentacles is no exception. Trailer Prison is a signature example of the artist's work – the inscribed details are both compelling and powerful, while swirls and spikes evoke both prison architecture and monstrous intent. For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness. With striking imagery of demonic towers toppled in flames, horrific machines and cryptic symbols of oppression, Rocky's work soon became a recognized and sought-after stamp of organized resistance. Several of his prints are held in collections, particularly the “Carnival Against Capitalism” poster he produced for the 2001 Quebec City protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Rocky’s poster...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Mixed Media

    Materials

    Copper

  • Wall Sculpture: 'Ayden'
    By Terri Fraser
    Located in New York, NY
    As an artist, I am a storyteller wielding visual art as my medium. My creative journey is fueled by a relentless thirst for knowledge acquired through both hands-on experience and ke...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Copper, Wire

  • Wall sculpture: 'Selena'
    By Terri Fraser
    Located in New York, NY
    As an artist, I am a storyteller wielding visual art as my medium. My creative journey is fueled by a relentless thirst for knowledge acquired through both hands-on experience and ke...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Copper, Wire

  • Burnished Rose - Contemporary Original Tabletop Metal Sculpture
    By Atticus Adams
    Located in Los Angeles, CA
    Atticus Adams' organically composed modern metal sculptures embody the transformative power of contemporary art, illustrating the creation of beauty, meaning, and emotional impact from industrial materials. Using mostly aluminum mesh—generally found in screen doors, windows, and filters—he creates contemporary abstract sculptural artworks and installations, which resemble flowers, clouds, and other natural phenomena. Working in metal, Adams effortlessly transforms rigid material into airy, effervescent artworks. This 15-inch high by 10-inch wide by 8-inch deep tabletop sculpture is created with copper mesh, gesso, acrylic paint, rivets, and wire on a metal stand. Size and price include stand. Atticus works spontaneously, feeling his way toward the objects that take shape in his mind as he shapes them almost entirely by hand. Free local Los Angeles area delivery. Affordable Continental U.S. and worldwide shipping available. A certificate of authenticity issued by the art gallery is included. Atticus grew up in West Virginia, steeped in traditional folk art. Several members of his family are self-taught artists, deeply involved in such crafts as wood carving and quilting. His formal art training includes stints at Yale, Rhode Island School of Design, and Harvard’s School of Architecture. Atticus has fond summer memories of screened-in porches back home and screen doors that practically dissolved the barrier between inside and outside, allowing the warmth and nature to permeate each day. This association continues to resonate in his art. “Metal mesh is a beautiful, flexible material that allows you to explore shadow and transparency in endless ways,” he says. “The material lends itself to these biomorphic shapes, which aren’t necessarily intentional . . . The sculptures seem fragile but are actually quite resilient—like nature itself.” A well-known sculptor, the organically inspired artworks of Atticus Adams are held in public and private collections and are exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. REPRESENTATION Since 2014 Artspace Warehouse Los Angeles, CA SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2021 Seeking Sanctuary, Zynka Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA 2021 My Hydrangea Kingdom By a Bird Bath Sea, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, Pittsburgh, PA 2018 There’s a Pink Poodle in my Arcadia, The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA Summers of Green Apples with Salt, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA 2016 Mesh Werks, Desert Art Collections, Palm Desert, CA 2015 Shapes & Forms, Desert Art Collections, Palm Desert, CA Mesh Lab: The Experiments, The Mine Factory, Pittsburgh, PA 2014 Arcadia, BE Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA 2013 Summertime, BE Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA 2013 A Joggling Board...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Metal, Copper, Wire

Recently Viewed

View All