Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Finished

Over a year ago I posted an idea I had to recreate the color TV test pattern as a wood sculpture. Well, I needed a full twelve months to think about it before making my first cut but I've finally finished it.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
shellac on curly/bird's-eye yellow birch, bird's-eye maple,
curly maple, blistered maple, and walnut
36" x 49" x 2"


The colors are very difficult to reproduce with shellac but, hopefully, I got close enough that the viewer is reminded of my inspiration. I like the idea of transforming something so common and hideously ugly into beautiful art -- a challenge in both concept and execution.

The title, of course, comes from that great Gil Scott-Heron song/poem, linked below (for a second time) for your listening pleasure:



In finishing this piece, I finally figured out how to make the Baye Fall sculpture I've been thinking about for two years. Now, if I can just find someone who wants a spectacular 6' x 6' x 2" wall piece, I may just start it.

3 comments:

  1. It is really exciting to see this piece finished! When you had suggested the idea I thought it was so clever and fun. It's great to see it realized.

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  2. Just wow. Love this! Brilliant design idea.

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  3. Thanks Beth and Tod. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback, however, I wasn't as happy with it once I compared the image with the actual test pattern, side by side, and realized some of the panels needed more color. I also decided that the curly maple pieces in the middle were too thick at 2" so I cut them down to 1.5" and have had to re-color them. I should get it back together by the end of next week.

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