PLATFORM / SIDEWALLS

Erik, Tom, Douglas & I made good progress on the frame today. The platform is pretty much finished; the sidewalls as well.

Finishing up the sidewalls.

Unnderside of the platform.

Topside!

Two of the four sides "in place" with a helping tentacle from Octovishnu!

CHAOTIC RECKONING

Erik, John and I spent all day at the warehouse working on dual Burning projects; Chaotic Harmony and the kinetic sculpture, The Sand Reckoner:

http://kksd09.blogspot.com/

Today's goal was to get all 4 sidewalls constructed out of 4x8 sheets of plywood, with 4 siderails on each, for interior support.

lumber awaits

Cutting 8' lengths to 4'.

Repeat 16 times.

Completed side. Tomorrow is cutting each of the 4 panels into the obelisk shape.
4' across the bottom, tapering to 3' at the top.

Superimposed background graphic -
this should look pretty good once it's on for real!

HUNTING AND GATHERING

I hit the Fazio's Scrapyard and found yummy buttons and gauges...

Onto a flea market: EXIT signs, dinosuars, and rubber stamp handles

I decoupaged the handles with an evolution of freshwater snail shells:

(source material for decoupage)

A portion of my stock of treasures:

Just a couple of the several bird cages my Mom picked up for me:

CHAOTIC CREW

HEDY

ERIK

JOHN

TOM

DOUGLAS

KRISTEN

PLANS

Layout of Tower Assembly, by John. Four of these will make up the sides of the sculpture. Erik and Hedy went on a lumber run and all materials are secured. Time to build!

CONCEPT

Imagine a 3-dimensional assemblage sculpture, a shrine to life.

OVERVIEW

The sculpture is a 4-sided assemblage of chaotic harmony, a tribute to evolution, starting with life from the oceans at the bottom, moving upwards to land-based life, and finally to creatures of the sky at the top.
I am envisioning: The bottom constructed of glass panes with blue gels for water and featuring aquatic life, from fish to coral. Midway represents land-based life featuring bicycle wheels with imagery incorporated in between the spokes. Nooks, crannies, boxes and cases will contain decoupaged images and mini sculptures. Onward to the sky filled with birdcages and birds. The crown is a Darwin Finch of sculpted maché.

BUILD
The shrine itself is an evolution of objects. Because it will be comprised of “found material,” it is difficult to depict exactly what it will look like, but I have made a mockup of two of the four sides to illustrate what I am envisioning.

SCULPTURE
Salvaged architectural details, windows, doors, bottle caps, fixtures, hardware, etc., make up the bones that keep the sculpture orderly. The thrill of the hunt (and find!) is the exciting and creative part of this kind of sculpture.

Chaotic Harmony {?}: A Burning Man 09 Installation

“It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us.” Charles Darwin

Maybe the true beauty and connectivity of art is that it provides no definitive answers. Maybe its power rests empirically in its questions. I’ve always found great comfort and reward in hearing, watching, sometimes just feeling new questions in participants. Questions I didn’t contemplate during its rearing.

So, here are my questions: What do I see when I think of a tangled bank? What do I craft of plants and singing birds on bushes? How do I see beautiful people swarming like insects about my exhibit, some stopping for nectar, some flying to other flowers? Would you call these constructed forms elaborate? Are they really all that different from each other? Is this concept of dependency truly a complex manner? Are all of these things truly produced by definitive laws? Who makes the laws, I ask you?

Have a seat, friend. Ask a question. If it be from your heart, you may not leave with an answer, but you will leave…changed. Just by asking the question.