Moa Prototype

Installation view.  Photo by Ivana Pavelka.

            In September of 2013, The 2nd Annual Off Screen exhibit opened at Brooklyn Fireproof.  Like last year's show, I decided to get myself in over my head again and make another sculpture, this one being even bigger.  This time, it was an idea for a form that I've had in my head for a long time.  You can see an early concept sketch in a previous entry.  As mentioned in that post, the form of these came to me in a dream, but a lot of the inspiration comes from the sculpture of ancient civilizations.

            There's something primal about ancient sculptures that speaks to me about why they even exist - why a prehistoric society would spend so much of their resources making these monoliths.  I guess the cynical (and probably correct) answer is that the ruling classes just wanted to show off their power by enslaving thousands and making them build stuff for them.  Maybe let's shelve that idea for a moment...  What if they were made as tribute to a higher power?  What if humans back then just wanted to make something truly majestic and have it stand for millenia?  Maybe the sculptures were our feeble attempt at something approaching godhood, possibly aware of the futility of such a gesture, but at the same time letting that higher power know: "This is what we want, and we'll go to great lengths to achieve it."  Maybe there's something romantic about the idea of labor as tribute that I connect with.  I guess whether they are acts of pride or tribute or defiance, one thing is certain - they're big acts.  Maybe that's what I admire about them.  They're big, and they're collaborative.  No single artist is attributed to them - they are always referred to as the art of a people.

            Anyway, I can't really put my finger on exactly why, but I wanted to make something along these lines.  The moai of Easter Island in particular have always connected with me (admittedly in no small part via video game references).  I like the shape, the mystery, the scale...they're just really cool.  I wanted to make a contemporary version of them.  For this show, just a prototype to start, but I have bigger plans for it.  I want them to be mass-produced into different sizes and materials.  I'd like to see a phalanx of them from concrete installed out in my mom's field in Pennsylvania.  I'd like to see a few installed at the bottom of a body of water.  I want to make some that have aeolian harps installed in their mouths so that they sing when the wind blows through them.

            Before any of that, though, I intend on producing an edition of "blanks"  that I would then hand off to other artists to decorate and interpret as they see fit.  I've seen this idea work before with Munny dolls, Cow Parade, and other similar executions.  Now that this prototype is done, I'd like to get a new one machined (I'm not happy with the hand-done form) and use that to make a mold to make duplicates with.  

            I'd like this project to grow and evolve, and maybe it could reach a point where they would inspire the same awe as those sculptures from ages long past.

            Here's some concept renders, process photos, and installation views.  More on my G+ album.

Installation view.  Photo by Alyssa Byrd.

Installation view.  Photo by Skip Hursh.