Arno Goetz creates sculptures, rogue gardens, fine design objects, and prints which engage with the cyclical nature of objects and raw materials. Wood becomes chair, and chair becomes material which Goetz transforms through systems of material alchemy. With materials like paper, bronze, plaster, wax, dirt, and steel, Goetz folds, polishes, tears; stitches, molds, and cleans. Everyday objects like grids, kazoos, paper towels, and bowls also become the raw materials of his practice. Goetz creates physical allegories of these objects by mimicking them in non-native materials, asking questions about authorship and reproduction while expanding our definitions of printmaking. In the Annex Garden Project, a land-based installation on the Cranbrook Academy of Art campus, he worked with the institution to develop a temporary landscaping policy for a 15’ x 80’ space outside his studio. Informed by the no-tilling process in agricultural production, Goetz encouraged a policy of non-control and minimal human intervention, which allowed the grassy monoculture to develop into a vibrant, complicated ecosystem. The needs of the institution were often at odds with the needs of the garden, and Goetz made prints, photographs, and sculptures about the relationship between artist, institution, and the pursuit of non-control.
Arno Goetz (b. Dallas, 1998) began by making photographs. The work he made as a high school student exhibited internationally. Goetz attended Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), where he eagerly expanded his art-making practice and studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. In 2018, Goetz lived in Italy and experienced for the first time a printing press while studying at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence. In 2020, Goetz graduated from WashU and received his BFA in Fine Art and a minor in Art History/Archeology. Goetz returned to Dallas to apprentice under Barvo, a Texas-based bronze sculptor. Goetz studied antique foundry techniques like lost-wax casting, restored figurative sculptures, and developed a passion for all things metal. After working with Barvo and learning how to operate a large studio, Goetz decided to continue his education. For two years, Goetz studied at the famed Cranbrook Academy of Art and thrived in its radical, experimental structure. Described as the cradle of Mid-Century Modern Design, Cranbrook challenged Goetz to consider materiality, complexity, and contradiction. Goetz was inspired by the same historic Eliel Saarinen Cranbrook architecture which influenced artist/designers like Harry Bertoia, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Jack Lenor Larson, Florence Knoll, Niels Diffrient, and Fumihiko Maki. Goetz earned his MFA in 2023 and returned to Dallas to teach conceptual drawing and 3D sculpture classes at the University of North Texas. Goetz also worked as an art conservator with specialties in ceramic/porcelain and crystal. By meticulously repairing Chinese tureens, Japanese porcelain vases, and American crystal heirlooms, Goetz learned about antique methods of production and loved contributing to the health and vibrancy of North Texas’s rich cultural heritage. Goetz continues to work in Dallas and creates needlepoint pillows, unique monopressings, and public-facing sculptures.
agoetz@cranbrook.edu ; @arno.art