Over the past twenty-five years Robert Arneson has evolved from a marginal satirist to a powerful iconoclast, from an “interesting” craftsman to a major figure in the arts. In achieving this status, he has done something very few artists of his generation have done: he has kept growing. Anyone who believes otherwise remains stuck in the old hierarchies, their standards derived from outmoded distinctions founded more on pedigree than on accomplishment. At one point in this line of reasoning one inevitably finds the statement “Clay is craft rather than high art,” or, “You can throw hot lead, but