FOREVER HOUSE GUEST
COMMISSIONED BY Lloyd and Sharon Powell
The big, black, granite, wedge sculpture was damaged by workmen (thank goodness not us) and Sharon wanted us to try and “fix it”. I put fix it in quotes because it struck me as a lose-lose situation. Who knows if a professional granite guy can mix up some matching dust with glue and make it less noticeable or invisible but your house has an endless number of these imperfections and where does it end? Antiques look better because they’re old and a falling down brick wall in a New York apartment adds value. In this kind of a situation, I like to accentuate the damage.
I sent them a photo of swirls I drew in chalk I thought we could carve into the face of the slab and she liked it.
Then, they went off to their ocean estate for the summer while we cooked in the desert. This was exactly when we were in the thick of doing sculptures for the Logan’s. I sent them a photo of a rusted figure and said,” How about if I not only do the carving but do it forever in a sculpture of me doing the carving?” I thought there was a chance Sharon would do it but not with out putting drugs in Lloyd’s coffee which she apparently did because he now has his landscape architect, wearing a skirt, in the backyard 24/7.
The rust finish is not a painted affect. The iron powder reacts with the ferric nitrate we spray on the whole thing to make it rust quickly.
COMMISSIONED BY Lloyd and Sharon Powell
The big, black, granite, wedge sculpture was damaged by workmen (thank goodness not us) and Sharon wanted us to try and “fix it”. I put fix it in quotes because it struck me as a lose-lose situation. Who knows if a professional granite guy can mix up some matching dust with glue and make it less noticeable or invisible but your house has an endless number of these imperfections and where does it end? Antiques look better because they’re old and a falling down brick wall in a New York apartment adds value. In this kind of a situation, I like to accentuate the damage.
I sent them a photo of swirls I drew in chalk I thought we could carve into the face of the slab and she liked it.
Then, they went off to their ocean estate for the summer while we cooked in the desert. This was exactly when we were in the thick of doing sculptures for the Logan’s. I sent them a photo of a rusted figure and said,” How about if I not only do the carving but do it forever in a sculpture of me doing the carving?” I thought there was a chance Sharon would do it but not with out putting drugs in Lloyd’s coffee which she apparently did because he now has his landscape architect, wearing a skirt, in the backyard 24/7.
The rust finish is not a painted affect. The iron powder reacts with the ferric nitrate we spray on the whole thing to make it rust quickly.
To make a mold of my face we start with a plastic drape and a polyester cream on my goatee and eyebrows.
For faces we use alginate. It’s quicker than silicone (less chance of feeling like you’re suffocating) but, unlike silicone, you can only cast one good piece from it.
A plaster mother mold holds the soft alginate mold in place. The black tube is for breathing.
Off it comes. We use it right away to cold cast a face made of resins mixed with iron powder which is surprisingly difficult to find.
We mocked up the granite wedge in plywood to be sure his hands were in the right places.
The steel plate under the right heel has holes so we can drive steel stakes into the ground to secure the piece. The left palm will get a dollop of silicone to connect it to the granite.
