thinking about pedestals – pedestal sculptures – pedestal sculpture paintings

Fools b getting mad crazy out en the EP.

It was the only hat in the store I wanted. It was the only hat in the store I needed. It was a model hat near the custom embroidery section used to help exemplify for customers different font sizes and type attributes created by their machine.

The “Assistant Manager” said it wasn’t for sale and WHY would I even want it, alluding to its ugliness, but I was quick to mention the ol’ Beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder trick. “But this is not a design!” she added, of which I then proclaimed her to be censoring me.

They charge by design and this is the one I wanted. She was refusing to sell it. She had to call another manager. He must have asked her why, too, as she said bewilderingly, “I don’t know why.”

They finally agreed to make a replica as the original was too tight — nickel-and-diming me for every separate color, outline, and text; but in the end, it was worth it. Frankly, it wasn’t much more expensive than their regular professional team baseball caps.

When I had gone to retrieve my order, the original clerk was leaving and a new employee was finishing up the hat for me. He raised it in his hand calling out to another co-worker, “Check it out! Look what he made!” She yelled back, “WHY!??” He replied without hesitation, “Cuz he’s gonna be the only one with yet!”

This might be true, but it is not just about being the only one with the hat. It is about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. I saw it as a real-life, real-time art exchange w/out the ever so daunting Art (with a capital A). We didn’t talk about art directly, but that’s what was happening. They were perplexed. I was hyped.

Please Try, bottom of orange bin, fine artist oil paint, 9″ tall -+, 2012

This Bud s Four U, floor board, plywood, particle board, board board, bored board, bored boar, 7″ tall -+, 2012

That s Not My Bunny That s Just a Guy w/ a Mustache, floor board, paper, black wash, white wash, splintered edges, 6.9390033030303309449″ tall -+, 2012

Next Mastapeace Lullaby, plywood, acid rain, pollution, global warming, ADHD, 49/2.3493920″ tall -+, 2012

Practice Patience, orange wooden bin, hair, water-based acrylic paint for children 21 and under, sawdust, filth, grime, gross, 5.939″ tall, 2012

3/4 view

detail of a detail of detailed detail

Let’s All Jam Together, wood, canvas, water-based paint, staples, work glove (used), 22″ tall -+, 2012

.75 viewing

All in all, looking back, they were really great. Throughout the semester, a regular thread that kept poking back into conversations is the ever so monumental question: WHAT IS ART???   Let’s not worry about what is art. Don’t make art, let’s just make something interesting. Let’s try our hand at a meme. Plus, it was a great way to intro Adobe Photoshop.