about the piece:.
While creating the Apollo Mirror this summer I became very obsessed with listening to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, especially the Detroit Mix. It is a true masterpiece and maybe the most intelligent album ever created both on a music and social level. The more I listened to the album and it's meaning/purpose I just felt sad/angry inside that we have in many ways not progressed as a society since the album release in 1971 and in many ways become worse. Our culture is willing to turn a blind eye to major issues, as well as accept mediocrity on a whole. This album became the inspiration for the work.
Poverty, lack of jobs, quality industry moving out of our country, terrorism, education, hatred, fear, lives devoted to social media, ignorance, exploitation, gun violence, people in power abusing their positions, greed, war, pollution, lack of choices in presidency. This is what fuels the piece.
I love and believe in our beautiful country.
" When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix
While creating the Apollo Mirror this summer I became very obsessed with listening to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, especially the Detroit Mix. It is a true masterpiece and maybe the most intelligent album ever created both on a music and social level. The more I listened to the album and it's meaning/purpose I just felt sad/angry inside that we have in many ways not progressed as a society since the album release in 1971 and in many ways become worse. Our culture is willing to turn a blind eye to major issues, as well as accept mediocrity on a whole. This album became the inspiration for the work.
Poverty, lack of jobs, quality industry moving out of our country, terrorism, education, hatred, fear, lives devoted to social media, ignorance, exploitation, gun violence, people in power abusing their positions, greed, war, pollution, lack of choices in presidency. This is what fuels the piece.
I love and believe in our beautiful country.
" When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix
creating the piece:
I took this work as seriously as Jimi Hendrix did making his statement on the Star Spangled Banner. I used my signature work of runny fried eggs as the foundation for this piece. You can read about the meaning behind them at :
http://www.bpkwoodwork.com/blog/fried-eggs
I wanted to make the piece as large as I could and chose to scale it at 8 feet by 4 feet so I could use a full sheet of plywood as my backer to mount the work to.
At this scale size the fried eggs replacing the stars measure out at 3 1/2". I cut a maple board into 50 squares then turned yolk portion on the lathe. I then band sawed out the rough outside shape before hand carving and shaping with gouges and rasps outdoors at Schuylkill River Park in Philadelphia.
I took this work as seriously as Jimi Hendrix did making his statement on the Star Spangled Banner. I used my signature work of runny fried eggs as the foundation for this piece. You can read about the meaning behind them at :
http://www.bpkwoodwork.com/blog/fried-eggs
I wanted to make the piece as large as I could and chose to scale it at 8 feet by 4 feet so I could use a full sheet of plywood as my backer to mount the work to.
At this scale size the fried eggs replacing the stars measure out at 3 1/2". I cut a maple board into 50 squares then turned yolk portion on the lathe. I then band sawed out the rough outside shape before hand carving and shaping with gouges and rasps outdoors at Schuylkill River Park in Philadelphia.
creating yolks on the lathe :
Each individual egg has been treated as a sculpture upon itself. When you get close to the eggs you will view scratched rasp marks which I love.
The rustic stripes are made from oak boards that I cut down from pallet skids used for transporting goods. Each one was hand chosen for it's unique texture/ grain that has been created naturally through wear and tear.
I used denim that I slightly distressed for the backer of the eggs as it also provided a vintage flag feel to the piece.
Creating the drips on the egg is jazz although not random. There is a definite control to the amount of drip and it's travel.
Creating the drips on the egg is jazz although not random. There is a definite control to the amount of drip and it's travel.