12 posts tagged “bronze”
The fish are schooling in the median of 2100S / 1300 East on the eastern border of Sugar House in Salt Lake City. The prior school of fish swim toward this group three blocks to the West. I resolved issues of manipulating the mold with the foundry, and this group is more dynamic than the first- which is good since they are smack in the middle of traffic and swimming toward the pond in Sugar House park. They are placed at car window height, and the L turn lane gets a nice slow drive past them- the City is already getting positive feedback.
I spent most of the day taking new shots of TailWing and burning disk #2 for a commission proposal due this Sat. The old picts just weren't making it...
I created her last spring in my plaster figure spasm, and had some issues with her figure mold beginning to collapse (rubber molds will deteriorate over time) creating weird areas. I thought I'd move on to other things and repair her later- and later became now, a year later. I brought her out of the basement and looked at her anomalies,and determined a triage plan. I ripped down with files and built back in with plaster, and she lived through it all. I painted her a bit differently- and she came out with a stronger metallic sheen than the past few painted forms. I used two layers of thin washed color (vs 1 heavier layer) over the opaque base layer of stainless steel- the stainless steel paint is a craft paint that has real stainless steel suspended in acrylic. The result is a complex French Brown patina.
This hen is a mix of a Polish Chicken, a breed kept as lawn ornamentation that are nervous critters as their vision is impaired by the pom-pom. She also has a V-Comb, which has a nice devil-horn quality. The female form was sculpted from a 24 year old model who posed back in my MFA process (hence the mold being old enough to begin to slump).
As long as I was revisiting work from the summer, I couldn't forget the Centaur Chicken! This is CentauE, holding her egg on her shoulder- now in a nice Bronze color. Now I really need to create a better base for her- without snapping a leg off.
I created this figure last year, and thought it would be nice to check back in with her. I gave her a patina this week, and now am considering doing the same for my Centaur Chickens. The raw plaster flattens the form quite a bit more than I had realized- the form's dynamics are much easier to engage with now. I gave it a bronze like patina, in part to see what she would look like in bronze.
One of the best things about living in Kansas City are the art museums. There are so many open, or opening soon, that seeing them all in one day is nearly impossible. I've been wanting to head back to the Nelson/Atkins to take more time in the Henry Moore room and see some of the big sculptures on the grounds that I missed the past few times I've visited. I spent too much of the morning hanging some artwork in my new studio, then drove the 12 miles to town and sauntered through some world class sculpture.
Jump forward to the 1500's in Renaissance Italy- this portrays the Roman tale of Galatea from the Iliad- and in a manner of heightened realism not seen since Greek times. This work is huge, three times life size or so. From this angle she drops such a sly look down, including the viewer in their erotic moment. And that is her braided hair that he holds in his left fist behind her shoulder, insistently keeping her in close.
Outside, overlooking the grounds, is an enormous casting of The Thinker. Look how tiny the moon is next to his hand- and I took this shot from way down on the ground below his feet as he sits on a large dias. Rodin created him to sit atop the Gates of Hell, so this pastoral setting creates a bit of a non-sequeter.
I just sold the mate to this little piece to a buyer in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is derived from my "Gallus Gallus" commission for the Draper Public Library in Draper, Utah- to see more on the chicken and egg theme visit my website at www.dangerhart.com, and scroll down to public commissions.
