Academically trained as a painter, Vasa Mihich originally taught theories of color as a senior Professor of Design at the University of California, Los Angeles. The octogenarian artist has been creating his striking transparent plastics since the late 1960’s in his Los Angeles studio and continues to this day to be a forward-thinking innovator.
Mihich continues to explore the possibilities and development of these cast acrylic sculptures and their accompanying medium. Henry Seldis, the former art critic for the Los Angeles Times, refers to Mihich as “the most sensuous and sensational colorist of the Southern California artists working in plastic.”
Often times an artist starts with an interest that is quite simple sounding in its objective. In Vasa’s case it was an interest to place colors next to each other, in space. He is modest man who then does not take credit for the incredibly hard work and dedication he has now given his art and interest that went well beyond simple experimentation.
Sailboat Form seems to be one of the shapes that he did a number of times and it’s a wonderful shape. It is evocative of a sail and imbues his sculpture which normally has an architectural feel to a piece that has movement and even an element of softness. Often in these works he does not dissect the form with color blocks so there is less play of color but there is still a subtlety of color plays which makes one want to walk around the piece.
Private collection, California