Atomic Toaster, 2023

Acrylic, oil, Gesso, MDF, & poplar

16.5 x 11 x 23.5 inches

Fair Market Value: $5,000

Starting Bid: $3,500

Buy It Now: $7,500

BOB CULVER is a painter from Omaha, NE who served on the Bemis Board for many years and currently serves on the board of Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and is Past-president of the Museum of Nebraska Art Board. His body of work is distinctive for its seamless weaving of close-to-home influences and worldwide events, inspired primarily by pop artists of the '60s and '70s with a dash of great portrait painters such as John Singer Sargent. He creates richly detailed paintings, 3-D cutouts, and automata that all work on multiple levels. Simultaneously culturally idealistic and socially critical, they provide insight into the artist and the subjects that have informed his creative practice over the past five decades. Culver's work has been featured in numerous private collections. He has exhibited in solo and group shows at Modern Arts Midtown, Omaha, NE. Culver did two summer residencies at Kent State Blossom Center where he studied with Wayne Thiebaud, Alex Katz, Frank Gallo, Phillip Pearlstein, James Melchert, and Jack Tworkov and was a studio assistant with Red Grooms from 1969-1972. Culver received his BFA from the University of Nebraska.

"My body of work is distinctive for its weaving together of close-to-home influences and worldwide events. I create detailed paintings, 3-D cutouts and automata that all work on multiple levels. Simultaneously culturally idealistic and socially critical, they provide insight into the subjects that have informed my creative practice over the past five decades, especially the Pop Art movement. In New York during the late 60's into 70's I was a studio assistant to the pop artist, Red Grooms, who gave me the nickname "The Nebraska Kid." The sobriquet implied Midwestern innocence, idealism, and values as well as an earnest, enduring desire to fight the good fight. My alias, the Nebraska Kid, has stayed with me and the character appears in some of the my most tongue-in-cheek work, usually accompanied by the cartoon characters and heroes of my youth with whom the Kid joins to save the day."