Randall,
Make sure you have "Linear" display mode selected (near upper right).
Printable View
thanks dan!.....duh.
Randall, your work is just mind blowing. Any show in the Hamptons this year?
Like probably HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of us who've been quietly watching . . . UNBELIEVABLE!!
I thought the carving was impossible, then you started to paint! How in the heck do you keep your hand steady enough to draw what look like exact replica's of those bills?:eek:
You are one talented artisian . . .
This is the best $6/year entertainment money (pun intended:rolleyes:) can buy!!!
This is amazing. It's satisfyingly ironic that you carve "wood products" out of wood.
richard.....i dont think so as i have very little inventory and a NY show next month plus one in santa fe and chicago....and a show at the LI museun with william kink in the fall.....and some commission work too. be careful what you wish for!!
thanks jeff...a year and a half ago i was in a serious accident and shattered my right hand and wrist. god gave me an incredible gift but he took half of it back. since then i have learned it is far more about imagination and tenacity than physical talent. i used to have the steadiest hand possible....now not so much. i used to do the bills by drawing and painting over a background color with no mistakes. now they are little paintings where the background color is re applied until it looks right. sometimes many layers to do what i could once do on the first try. the carving is all about tenacity and a willingness to just go for it.
nate....i started carving books, then painting the pages, then any paper object. the irony is intentional..thanks
OK...back to working on the box and deeper painting...
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0537.jpg
thats william king
other views ...same day this photo is larger than life size.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0538.jpg
amazing work!
Incredible skill Randall. Are you bringing this piece to the Sofa West in Santa Fe?
maybe...if i dont sell it before that. i already have a commission to do another.
Hey what happened to that corner I liked so much??? You weren't kidding the other day!
Looking great, Randall. Sorry to hear about your accident...don't think of it as losing half the gift, I think God just wanted to challenge you more since you are so good!
Take care,
Kevin
That is one sweet Piece Randall. Thanks for taking us for the ride..
thanks everyone for all for the comments and questions. we are almost there. its not really finished yet but tomorrow you will be up to date. the truth is i could take any of the major pieces i've ever done and work on it for the rest of my life. i can always visualize something better. i am in the annoying habit of "tuning up" older sculptures....even years later.
kevin...the lord works in mysterious ways. maybe it was just too easy before. besides the accident i'm not getting any younger.
Thanks Randall, You deserve a box like that for your work.
Deane
deane...here's hoping.
its hard to believe but the single greatest challenge for me is getting the cardboard right. its not like you can buy a tube of cardboard paint. what i do now is put on light washes of color and kind of sneak up on it till i'm happy. no one would believe how many thin coats of paint this takes.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ldmoney3-1.jpg
Randall, just stunning! I don't know if you said somewhere along the way, but what's the approx size?
A fun thing to do is what I just did with my two daughters...show them the finished photos and ask "what is that?"
"A box with money in it (yawn)."
Then go to the top and show them the sequence...I actually got a "wow" out of them!
What's next on the agenda?
Thanks for sharing this.
Kevin
thanks kevin...well, today i carved a matchbook. took two hours.
its 14 x14 x10...the money is very close to life size.
i have a commission to do another box like this and i'll probably do some more envelopes. and then some other idea will come along. meanwhile, i'm going snowboarding for a few days. what i showed in this thread was 70 days of work with no days off!!
The result is worthwhile, I think. I was fairly convinced looking at these (before this thread) that the money was carved and the box was just an old box. I've never seen anything like it. Most "famous" pop art couldn't hope to be 1/10th as good as this.
david..."art" is the only race where the slowest person can win. there are no rules. "craft" requires a certain amount of skill. i like walking the fence between the two. after winning "best in show" at the smithsonian craft show i wasnt invited back the next year.....there was some "no fair. not really craft" and on the other side i get a lot of "well done, but not really art".
i had a good friend and mentor named saul steinberg. he told me to "figure out what you do best and do that..everything else is banging your head against the wall". so thats what i try to do and let the chips (pun intended) fall where they may.
Probably rubber band guns and yard ornament kits.
actually the stuff in the smithsonian craft show is generally off the chart great. really worth a look if you are near DC in mid april.
Randall, thanks for sharing this process. It is truly inspiring. You certainly have a wonderful gift and I always enjoy looking at your work. Looking forward to seeing more in the future.
Chuck
thanks chuck
heres an april's fool gift for me.....article came out today.
http://www.lipulse.com/art-music/art...arved-into-art
this week a Japanese TV station came and did an interview. they recreated "old money" and a few other kinda hokey bits.......but it was fun ....and they paid me.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/japanTV4.jpg
i'm not going to rehash the whole process but here is a shot of the next box. its a commission based on the first one
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...llro/lmbox.jpg
my wife caren too this shot. it shows my work environment. i am not neat and orderly. color coding the tools has saved a lot of time(there are 4 x as many on the table as in the photo) as they are generally scattered about. the two six by sixes have saved a lot of time. i can stick the sculpture between them at all sorts of angles .
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...rrworking3.jpg
You're not taking time shots of the process :( The shot your wife took is just about perfect, but have her do it once an hour :)
dan...i documented the whole process like the first one. these are caren's shots. she has a bunch of me working and some interesting "hands shots". i'll post them shortly. i'm working on 5 other projects at the moment.
moving right along
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...lro/lmfin1.jpg
Fantastic. the corrugation and the raised tape are excellent touches. There's got to be quite a bit of flex in those edges of the raised tape going around the boxes (like the one on the right side of the picture above).
Absolutely jawdroppingly good!!
Just awesome.
thanks hank. i have most of the money roughed in (painted)...photos to follow.
If the Smithsonian judges don't think your work is art,they are too close minded,and should not be judges.
Your work is amazing! Thank you for this story, it was fascinating to watch it come together.
george...in 2006 i won "best in show"...the only person to do it on the first try. the judges were more than fair. i'd be the first to admit my work is hard to categorize....its kinda the point.
ok...moving right along. the painting of the money not as finished as it looks...just roughed in.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...dallro/lm1.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...dallro/lm2.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...dallro/lm3.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...dallro/lm4.jpg