Peter Shire's playful art makes a comeback

Anyone who grew up in the 1980s will remember postmodernism: bright colors, cartoony shapes, a sense of fun, in furniture and buildings and art and TV shows. It got its start with Ettore Sottsass' Memphis group in Milan and was a rebuke to super-serious modernism. Some loved it, some hated it.

Peter Shire at his studio in Echo Park

Photo by Joshua White, courtesy of MOCA

One of its most energetic exemplars in LA was the designer, sculptor and ceramicist Peter Shire. The prolific artist co-founded Memphis and since then has never stopped making works that embody what he describes as "serious play."

Now a new generation has fallen in love with his work and he has a retrospective at MOCA Pacific Design Center, Peter Shire: Naked Is the Best Disguise. DnA producer Avishay Artsy met with the artist and spoke to curators and fellow artists to find out why.