Bye George...


Preface: http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-01-23/news/very-curious-george/ ... Here is an article about the website bushorchimp.com R.I.P.  I had stumbled upon it looking for a good image of President Bush's face to superimpose onto the G.O.P. Elephant.  I later found out that I was launched by a friend, Alex Reeves!

On an artistic note: I had always been a fan of The Third-Class Carriage by 
HonorĂ© Daumier.  Not just because of the subject matter, but because of the ability to see the artist's painting process.  The work depicts an everyday life scene, commoners riding a train, during the brink of industrialization.  When you look closely you can actually see the priliminary lines used to map out the scene on the canvas.  After mapping out a foot x foot chalk grid on the steel and plasma cutting my Bush Elephant I decided to leave the lines behind to pay homage to Daumier.


Getting on with it..... The chalk eventually wore away, but luckily a white crayon makes an identical mark and stays put.  Here is a photo of me redrawing the lines on the Bush Elephant in its new home, 6 feet below grade, in a finished basement of a private residence in New Jersey.


Footer:  In hanging the steel cut-out, determining the distance from the wall was extremely important.  The steel casts shadows that needed to be vivid enough to be seen, but not too close to the original edge as to be hidden.

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Nine Times

In January at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito CA, I built my 9th sculpture with Patrick Dougherty. CLICK HERE FOR THE MUSEUM'S FLICKR PHOTO SET.  The sculpture, Peekaboo Palace, is in the form of serpentine hallways and openings winding around a dome-topped tower.

Patrick had previously built a sculpture at this very location and we incorporated-in some of the living elements from the first sculpture which had rooted themselves and continued to grow after being woven in place.  We watered the base with a hose, it also rained a bit, and we hope that some of the structural sticks from this sculpture will take root as well.  This living material adds to the longevity of the work because it won't rot at the base.  The BADM crew did a great job with upkeep on the last one and it lasted 7 years!  This project was driven by Brianna Cutts, the Director of Vistor Experience and Exhibit Design, who really made everything run as smoothly as can be.  There was also a great group of volunteers to work with during this build, a lot of jaw-droppingly talented local furniture builders and artists.

Here's a link to a particularly striking image taken of Peekaboo Palace; to view it, click the photographer's name --> Aaron Logan <--.

Richmond Time Lapse is doing another video!  Here is the first one segment, hopefully we will see the rest soon!



We also go great press from ABC, check out this scenic location where we were able to live and work for 3 weeks!  Here is there news feed:




I stayed a couple days longer and did some touch up work to the last Sculpture I helped Patrick build in the Bay Area, Out Yonder.  Here is a before/after of that:

Before:
After:

It didn't need much, but it looks a lot tighter around the edges and is more stable now.  The sculpture is on a private residence and, without saying their names, thank you once again for being such amazing hosts.  Great family!  During my stay I was also able to see PaloTable, the coffee table I made for their guest house.  I had never seen it in it's final home:




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