Fredric Hobbs (December 30, 1931 - April 25, 2018) was an American artist and filmmaker. He is known for pioneering an artistic style he termed ART ECO. His work has been showcased at museums and galleries internationally, and his works are part of the permanent collections of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(New York), the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

, and the

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the Fin ...

Biography

Fredric Hobbs (full name Charles Fredric Hobbs) was born in Philadelphia on December 30, 1931. He attended the

Menlo School Menlo School, also referred to as Menlo, is a private college preparatory school in Atherton, California, United States, across the street from Menlo Park. Menlo comprises a middle school, grades 6–8, with approximately 230 students, an ...

in Menlo Park, California and in 1953 earned B.A. in History from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. After service as a US Air Force Officer in Korea, Hobbs maintained a studio in Madrid where he attended the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...

. Later in life, his studios were located in San Francisco and Carmel, California. Since the 1950s, the artist's work has concerned spiritual and environmental consciousness. In 1963, Hobbs created a radical new automobile art called "Parade Sculpture". This concept had its origin in ancient religious processions and self-propelled tableaux. During the 60s, three parade pieces ("Sun Chariot", "Three Thieves", "Trojan Horse") removed art from its museum environment, thereby confronting a mass audience under circumstances of everyday life. Driveable sculpture was exhibited in New York, California and as part of the famous national traveling show entitled "The Highway". In the early 1970s, Fredric Hobbs pioneered another art form known as ART ECO. ART ECO combines environmental technology, fine art, solar/nomadic architecture, and interactive communications with an ecologically balanced lifestyle. Hobbs wrote, directed, and produced four films that received distribution: ''

Troika Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three') may refer to: Cultural tradition * Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia * Troika (dance), a Russian folk dance Polit ...

'' (1969), '' Roseland'' (1971), '' Alabama's Ghost'' (1973) and '' Godmonster of Indian Flats'' (1973). Copies of these films and other videorecordings Hobbs' directed or produced are held by the

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

, and the

American Genre Film Archive American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. These films were in part experimental platforms for Hobbs' other work, for example, ''Troika'' is a film about a fictionalized Hobbs attempting to fund and make a film titled ''Troika'', and the titular "godmonster" of ''Godmonster of Indian Flats'' was depicted using a sculpture made by Hobbs himself. In 1978, with

Warren Hinckle Warren James Hinckle III (October 12, 1938 – August 25, 2016) was an American political journalist based in San Francisco. Hinckle is remembered for his tenure as editor of '' Ramparts'' magazine, turning a sleepy publication aimed at a lib ...

, Hobbs wrote and illustrated ''The Richest Place on Earth,'' a history of Nevada's Comstock Lode in the 1860s and '70s, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Once an owner of the Silver Dollar Hotel in Virginia City, NV, Hobbs has had a long and multifaceted relationship with Virginia City and environs. Hobbs also wrote and directed a film of the same title the same year, produced by the Virginia city Restoration Corporation. Hobbs' 1986 acrylic drawing "South Coast Series: Two Currents" is a part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's permanent collection. It was last exhibited there in 1987. Hobbs died on April 25, 2018, in Monterey County, California.

Filmography

*''Trojan Horse'' (1969) (writer and director) *''Troika'' (1969) (writer, director, producer) *'' Roseland: A Fable'' (1970) (writer, director, producer) *'' Alabama's Ghost'' (1972) (writer, director, producer) *'' Godmonster of Indian Flats'' (1973) (writer, director, producer) *'' The Richest Place on Earth'' (1978) (writer and director) *''FASTFUTURE I'' (1992) and ''2'' (2001) (director), for KCRB TV

Bibliography

*''The Richest Place on Earth: the Story of Virginia City, and the Heyday of the Comstock Lode'' (1978), with

, Boston: Houghton Mifflin *''Eat Your House: ART ECO Guide to Self-sufficiency'' (1980), Virginia City, NV: Virginia City Restoration Corp. *''The Spirit of the Monterey Coast'' (1990), Palo Alto, CA: Tioga Publishing Company

References

External links

*
Search Author:Fredric Hobbs at UC Berkeley Libraries
including

holdings
"Screen: 'Troika' Arrives: Collage of Art Objects Marks Hobbs Film"
. Review of "Troika" at the ''New York Times'', Howard Thompson, Nov. 26, 1969
Carl Fredric Hobbs, California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery, at Find A Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Fredric 1931 births American experimental filmmakers Cornell University alumni Artists from Philadelphia 2018 deaths