Sculpture and Down Time

I'm starting to understand this vampire revival.
I'm hiding in a dark room because another migraine has me avoiding any kind of light.

It's hard to see, my eyes feel like they're vibrating. Strong light brings me to my knees.
Needless to say, no outside carving is happening. No inside artwork either.
Just resting with a towel over my eyes.
Which is not a bad thing when it's the only option possible.

Sculpture and Selfies

In addition to lofty sentiments, monuments to money, and the ultimate longevity of any art form,
sculpture has always been visual entertainment.

But now it seems to be the backdrop instead of the focus of our attention.
There's a new meme of interaction with sculpture that changes the artist's intention.....

All the more reason for specifying a tall pedestal for future work.....

And my own entry, less interaction, more ironic juxtaposition, from a Chinatown SF shop window.

Sculpture and ?

Sculpture takes a great deal of strength and patience.
So does being ill.

Given my experience with the former, I should be good with the latter.
Not so.

I've been having migraines again. If it lasts on and off for 20 days, is it one or many?

With flashing lights, scintillation inside my eyes, and extreme sensitivity to lights out side of my head, the last thing I've been willing or able to do is sit in front of a computer screen.

Lying low, literally, has been the only way to deal with them.

Feeling a bit better now and beginning again to post.

Sculpture and Painting

The year 1642 meets 2013. In a shopping mall.
This video is funny, exciting, superbly executed and very clever.

Why does it fill me with despair?

Holland's Rijksmuseum staged this elaborate tableau vivant of Rembrandt's "Guards of the Night
in a busy shopping mall. As marketing for the museum, it demands your attention.
If Art doesn't sell, entertainment certainly does.



Is making a spectacle the only way to get an already distracted public to notice art at all?

One of my problems with this approach is the enforced mash-up of spectacle and private life.
I hate being a captive audience. I don't know about life in Holland, but here in the USA,
if I saw people with guns and spears coming towards me while shopping, I'm not shopping anymore.

I'm gone.
Too many real crazies for me to stay around to see if it's really just an advertisement.
Is art supposed to ambush you?

Looking at art depends upon your active engagement with seeing what the artist intended.
Art about the art is a hallway of mirrors, endless commentary but no dialog of you and the art.

After the excitement of this enactment, who is going to be satisfied with spending 30 minutes quietly looking at this or any other static work of art?

What do you think?

Sculpture and Dance

After two weeks of non stop work, I'm ready for someone else to perform.

This playful video belies the two years it took to make. Stunt bicyclist Danny MacAskill's movie, Imaginate, has breathtaking moves, a great set, serious physical skills, and a sense of humor.



Behind the scenes footage here.

Sculpture and Social Media.

She saw it on Facebook before she saw it in the garden.
That's NOT a good thing, as she lives here.....

It's another disturbing example of virtual living instead of a real life walk in the garden.

Granted, she wasn't feeling well, but being outside might help instead of being glued to the monitor.
It is odd, being a sculptor, knowing that the digital life of my work will be seen by more people than ever get to physically experience it in real life.

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I've wanted this Chinese stone sculpture for several years. 

The site is a direct sight line from the garden entrance. Three Italian cypress, Cupressus sempervirens, were planted several years ago. They'll form a solid green wall behind the pedestal, which has been empty and waiting. Once I finally got this lovely carving from Cargo, all I had to do was carry it into the garden and place it.

... and post the result on Facebook to prove that it happened.

Sculpture and Criticism

People are afraid to evaluate a sculpture because they don't trust their own judgment.

A good example of a bad sculpture.  (It even more difficult to say "That's awful!" when it's Jesus.)

Here's a simple process to evaluate a figurative piece of sculpture. 

Allow yourself plenty of time to study the sculpture. Walk around it, see it from every angle. 

You might try and take the pose. Ask yourself if any distortion or stylization is part of the story the artist is telling you. (You do this whether you do or don't like the art, this isn't about you. It's about understanding the art.) After doing all this, are you uncomfortable or ill at ease with the work?

   If so, most likely there's something wrong with the sculpture.

This figure is bad because it's a Frankenstein. It was modeled in separate parts that were then assembled. They do not make a unified whole. Where exactly are his shoulder, elbow and knee? 

"Oh, they're in there somewhere"...is not an acceptable answer.

Which brings us to major problem #2: Drapery should always help to define the figure beneath it.

Bad sculpture gets carried away with the parts and forgets the whole. 
The hair becomes a shampoo commercial, the drapery is being blown by a hurricane......

Refer to the photo above and try to pin point where his right knee should be. Can't find it? That's because the sculptor doesn't know either!

More DUBIOUS ANATOMY. Christ or Quasimodo? He has NO neck.

Here too much attention has been lavished on hair...at the expense of his trapezious and clavicles. The result is there is NO articulation of shoulder, head and neck.  Do you see it? His right clavicle should curve back, the bone has many compound curves. Here it's like a 2 x 4.

No neck. No neck. No Neck.

This sculptor, Lorenzo Ghiglieri, can do good work, he just didn't bother to take the time. Shame on him.

What about the donors who funded this mess? Do they just write the check and not demand excellence?

I'm upset that D grade work passes as sculpture and no one say's it's crap! Where are the meth-heads that cut up bronze sculpture when you need them?

Sculpture in the Garden

How do you feel when a designer takes something from bad to worse?

photo by Todd Coleman

Garden Design Magazine helped the James Beard Foundation refurbish the garden of the famous chef.

Look at the bench on the left in the photo above, at the end of it is a portrait sculpture of Mr. Beard.
It's not great placement of the art but you might sit down next to it to commune with his spirit.

In the newly redesigned garden the bust has been moved... to hiding in the bushes!

That's no way to respect a sculpture. 

It's not a great piece of sculpture, but the garden designers should have either featured the work or  placed it in the dumpster and denied any knowledge of its whereabouts. Hiding it in the garden behind potted ferns doesn't work. Do you get down on your knees to view it? What were they thinking?

See all that blank lattice work fencing? The sculpture should be on a pedestal at least 5.5 feet high and placed in front of one of the lattice panels.  The near panel would allow closer viewing, while a central placement would be more formal. The surrounding planting would anchor it, lighting it would give interest to the garden in the evenings. The art would then have presence and meaning.

What do you think?

Sculpture and Halloween

What is scarier than the hair and make-up photos displayed in a hair design school in a mall?

Answer: When some prankster carefully places 3D googly eyes on the models.

I noticed something disturbing when we parked the car. Close inspection revealed the reason.

Simple and remarkably effective in turning fashion victims into zombies.

Who is next?

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And two great pumpkins carved in a Northwest Coast Indian style in the window of Arthur Erickson Inc, Fine Arts and Unusual Anitques.

Sculpture and Bad Relief

 It's October, so lets call this the severed head and hand school of bad relief. 

This horrid apparition is right outside the children's room of Portland's beautiful Central Library.

The artist wisely chose not to sign this piece.

Are there no critical standards anymore?

It's bad from every angle.

Applying a decapitated head or hand to a flat surface does NOT count as a relief.

People's (both artists and the public) ignorance of the art of relief never fails to astonish me.
Know nothing about relief? Look at any handful of coins.

Relief is as much about drawing as it is about dimension. Relief is about the play of light over a surface composed of different bevels and planes. That's what makes it so exciting.

Not to leave you with a bad work of art, here's one from the master, St Gaudens who does more in 1/2 inch than the above does in 10 clumsy inches.

Detail of marble relief by A. St Gaudens.

Sculpture and Feet and Shoes

Fashion may seem frivolous when compared to the lofty aspirations of sculpture.
Don't kid yourself.
Fashion has always been about influence, money and power. Always attractive to artists.

Inspired by Magdalene and the Flame by Georges de la Tour  .

Christian Louboutin worked with artist/photographer Peter Lippman for his fall 2011 shoe promotion.  

The photos are witty and beautifully executed. They're inspired by famous paintings with the hope that people will consider his shoes as works of art.

Shoes as fetish items have a long history. These shoes are designed to be outrageous and titillating to see. They have maximum visual impact. I've no problem with placing these shoes on a pedestal. They require  high craft to make them. They're far more attractive than Jeff Koon's vacuum cleaners in plexi boxes.  

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I do have a problem with shoes as "performance art." Form is utterly divorced from function.

My concern is the physical impact these "sculptures" will have on young women who are willing to be shaped to fit this fashion. I meant that literally and physically. Ankle, knee, and spine problems. Nasty falls. The designers claim no responsibility for the necessary physical act of walking.

Bound feet were only three inches long, impossible to walk unassisted.

Is foot binding/fashion barbaric if it's voluntary?

Fashion should look both forwards and backwards when trying to cross the street.

Glamour can take a long time to heal. 

Sculpture and Guns

Sculpture and Guns.
Two parts. One sublime, one ridiculus. Your call.

 Photo from Atalier Ted Noten

Why should boy spies have all the fun?

From the Atalier of designer Ted Noten, comes the Seven Necessities, a fashionista's personal pistol.

It's really a compact outfitted with 18 Kart gold details. Features include: lip gloss in the muzzle, pills, Viagra was suggested but again a personal choice. There's a 50 grams 24-karat gold piece, and a 4-gigabyte thumb drive in the gun's handle.

A bang with bang?

At the suggested price $17,000, how do you get it through airport security?

Sculpture and Pope John Paul II

Filippo Monteforte photographer

When is a portrait not a portrait?


When the sculpture reminds people more of a urinal than the man it is supposed to portray.

That's not good when the work is supposed to depict Pope John Paul ll.

photo by Marco Guerrier

The large bronze sculpture was created by Oliviero Rainaldi.

Located next to the Rome's Termini Train Station, the work drawn criticism from the public. 

They're calling it a "Vespasiano"

a urinal. It also reminds the Italians of the fascist Mussolini.

Mr. Rainaldi was inspired by a photo of the late pope enveloping a child in his cloak.

Aside from the lack of resemblance to the pope, the sculpture's major flaw is both conceptual and physical. 


Figurative sculpture is not alive, but it is about ideas and forms.

The figure is hollow. Empty. That's very disconcerting.

Given that this sculpture represents the much loved pope, to break the understanding that his body occupied physical space breaks any identification the public can have with the sculpture. (It's like an actor breaking the fourth wall.)

The sculptor's idea's about the cloak took over and consumed the Pope's body! The cloaks hollow shell destroyed the crucial form - that of the pope's body and conveys hollow emptiness rather than comfort and shelter and a loving presence.

This should have been obvious to the artist and any committee overseeing the project in the preliminary drawings and certainly in the maquette stage.

It's bad sculpture and bad publicity. More on the work here and here.

Sculpture and Indians

What could come after sculpture and feminism?

Sculpture and Indians.

Being a bronze Indian is hard work.

I had my "Bouquet for the City" sculpture at the Heathman Lodge for the American Rhododendron Society Convention. Walking back and forth from the parking lot I kept passing this lost soul.

(Background: The Heathman Lodge looks like a giant log cabin. Very "Western" looking.)

The bronze figure is well modeled, the siting is perfunctory. It's right near a noisy heating / cooling unit. I looked for a signature or a title but was unable to find one. Perhaps that's for the best.....

What does this figure represent?

A "western experience"? .....in a hotel parking lot?

The Homeless is more like it. The white folk go inside while he stays outside in the rain.
I know a statue is inert matter, but its creation and intent are spirit and ideas, and those are very much alive.

The hotel vans idle, filling the area with exhaust.

While I love figurative work, I find most figurative bronze incredibly depressing. While the modeling may be skilled, there seems to be no thought behind the work.  

Art has the power to speak to us, to move us. Isn't it a pity when the content is empty cliche and status quo?
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Wildlife is a valid sculpture genre.


Does this Indian fall into that category?
(Ducks and Bucks, Stags on craigs,
and a Noble Savage or two on the mantle or in the parking lot?

Is this Indian statue the corporate equivalent of a lawn jockey?

Is there a curse worse than to be romanticised?
Even in the art-afterlife this Indian has no real estate

Ignored by the hotel vans and guests, 
his prayers fall on deaf ears. 
"Oh Great Spirit, Deliver me from this waste-land!"


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I don't have any answers, but I do have questions:

What do you think of artists appropriating First Nation/ethnic imagery?

Having marginalized aboriginal peoples, why do we value their images and art, especially if they didn't make that art?

Your Thoughts?

Sculpture and Tattoos

Unblemished skin is one of the glories of the nude body.

I was looking at my stats page and found that after Paradis Express,

All Things Ruffernarian,

and Art's the Answer,

the fourth referring URL was a site called Tattoo Designs Vault.

This doesn't look good. (Design theft, copyright infringement?)

Especially since I hate tattoos.

I've done thousands of drawings, not one do I want on my body.
When I see an arm covered in tattoos it looks like a fatal bruise.

My best course of action will be: Do nothing. 

I know that any tattoos based on my art will be a blackened mess in 20 years.  A rare case of life lasting longer than "art".

(I do wonder WHAT they were looking at on a sculpture blog? )

What is your take on tattoos? Have you designed or received any?

Sculpture and US Imperialism

We were at the state capital dropping off a proposal when we noticed this 1986 sculpture by Robert McGee.

It's made with the best of intentions, honoring all who've served in the US military....but does it really mean what it is saying?

A US soldier with a rifle is standing atop the deserted world. A man, a gun, an empty planet under surveillance.

The large globe is perfunctorily modeled. Gobs of clay smeared randomly, lumpy mashed potatoes for the Himalayas.

No beauty of the seven seas is rendered. Instead grid lines of rational thought. There's not even attention paid to US war sites: Vietnam, Korea, etc

The pedestal allows water to pool around the base, and contributes to the unintentional illusion that the world sphere is deflating.

The sculpture is sited along a green walk, inviting reflection.

It made me think how important it is for sculptors to draw everything out - both forms AND ideas, before beginning modeling.


A good idea may not be the right idea.

Deflating world view.

Sculpture and Walkers

The goal: Customize a standard grey hospital walker so that my 87 year old mother in law would notice it and use it.

Dorothy's walker wrapped in bright pink and red tape.

Dorothy loves pink so I bought bright pink survey tape and red duct tape and wrapped it. We took the walker to the nursing home and presented it to her.

Readers, she hated it.

"That's horrid that color! It's ugly." 
"It's shocking pink", I said. 
"It's shocking all right!"


This is a mighty strong opinion from a gracious Southern woman who can't remember that she fell and broke her hip five weeks ago. She couldn't tell you what happened five minutes ago if her life depended upon it.  But she knew she hated that color.

We all laughed about it as I stripped the tape off, returning the walker to institutional grey.

After leaving the nursing home, Mistah David redeemed my work and the evening by saying: "Isn't it interesting that her aesthetic sense is the last thing to go?"

The power of art....

Dorothy (in pink) and the offending walker (also in pink).

Sculpture and the European Commission"s Definition of ART

It's only art if it's plugged in and turned on.
But really it's about the definitions of art and of money.

An Untitled Dan Flavin piece at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas Photo Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 The European Commission ruled that works of art by two American artists, Bill Viola and Dan Flavin are not sculpture, installation art or even works of art.

Photo by Kira Perov, courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York

Bill Viola, "Night Journey" video installation

They're lamps.

In its decision, the European Commission describes the Flavin work as having "the characteristics of lighting fittings... and is therefore to be classified... as wall lighting fittings."

In a discussion of Viola's work that really split hairs, the commission stated that Viola's video-sound installation cannot be considered sculpture "as it is not the installation that constitutes a 'work of art' but the result of the operations (the light effect) carried out by it." 

Art is taxed at 5%, but lighting fixtures can be taxed at 20%.

Read more at the ArtInfo site. 

At the end of the article they mention US officials having the same problem with a sculpture by Brancusi.  His "Bird in Space" — a seminal abstract tapered bronze sculpture — was not considered an artwork according to customs, but rather fell under the classification of "Kitchen Utensils and Hospital Supplies" and was subject to that category's higher tariff.

Maybe conceptual art is really about bureaucracy.

Sculpture and The Billboard from Hell

サンタさんのひげとは何ですか？
Что такое борода Санта Клауса?
¿Qué es la barba de Santa Claus?
Kaj je Santa's brado?

What's in Santa's Beard? 

I think this billboard is funny and scary.
  

Having seen beards that entire fast food meals could disappear into only to reappear,
digging around in any beard, even Santa's, is unwise.
I want to know: "Who thought this was a good idea?"

That it's over an old time "hawg" motorcycle shop just makes it even funnier.

Happy Holidays.

Sculpture and the Design Hell Condo

For vacation we rented a condo in Provincetown, Cape Cod. Newly built, away from the commotion of Commercial Street, attractive landscaping, lovely deck.

And then we went inside...........

The online photographs we'd seen did not do it justice.

We pondered the space as if we were forensic detectives trying to understand the owner's motives.   The clash of black and white pattern on pattern, objects and styles was assaulting. What was the owner thinking?

The black and white patterns on the wall paper, stairs, and the hall carpet visually flattened space. Several times I caught myself trying to understand what was pattern on pattern and what had physical depth. Even found myself testing spaces with my foot before stepping further, as if the vacation rental had suddenly become a visual field experiment.

Judge for yourself.

In the photos below, what is pattern, what has depth and space? See how the banisters flatten out and become 2D when they're in front of the wallpaper?  What is the black of the stairwell and what is the black stripes on the carpet? Add movement and the result is vertigo.

I ask again, "Who does this in a rental?"

I was in the space for less than 15 minutes before I started taking things OFF the walls. I couldn't relax. It reminded me of the Oscar wilde quote: "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go." The wallpaper stayed, but a lot of the art came down to live in a closet, behind the couch, or on top of the refridgerator for the week.


Who makes stuff this awful?
Who buys it and thinks it a good idea for furnishing a rental? These hideous plates stalked you in the kitchen.....

The Girls by John Waters. Not cheap, though it looks it, at $650 for three.

That was answered when I took these scary "porcelain collector plates" down from the kitchen walls. They're by long term Provincetown resident, the prince of bad taste, John Waters. A very limited edition................. Thank god.

The house decoration was a major incentive to spend more time at the beach....