Much Better Now

After finishing The Revolution Will Not Be Televised in January, and getting it photographed, I was disappointed with some of the color matching between my work and the actual test pattern. In addition, I realized that having two inch thick blocks in the middle section was too distracting --- so, I took it apart to add some color and take 1/2" off the middle blocks.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
36" x 49" x 1.5"
March 2011

Since I photographed this one myself, the quality of the lighting and the photography isn't as good as the first one but you can see that the yellow, red, and blue are much closer to the actual test pattern now. The green is also better but I think the lighting makes it look the same as before. I didn't add anything to the blue green panel and don't know if the lighting makes it look lighter or if I took some color out in the repolishing process.

Official Television Screen Test Pattern

Here is the original. I'm happy for now. Hopefully, I'll sell it before I have a chance to take it apart again.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
36" x 49" x 2"
January 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.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

I usually do not title a piece before starting it but I was recently thinking about making a piece that is based on the color TV test pattern:
And I thought of that great song/poem by Gil Scott-Heron, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. It will be a challenge in a number of ways, not least of which is making a piece that lives up to the title. I'm also not sure how well I can reproduce those colors, they are very intense, but I'm hoping that if I can just get close enough for people to recognize what it is, I will not have to replicate them exactly.

In tracking down the song and listening to it on YouTube, I was struck by the compelling blend of humor and anger. I also thought how relevant it is for today and how nice (what a relief) it is to know that trivialities are an obsessive part of all generations. For some reason, we tend to think the age we are living in is different or special but the reality is, it is always the same thing happening with just different names and technologies. It would be interesting to hear an updated version, perhaps entitled, The Revolution Will Not Be Streamed On YouTube. The irony is that, of course, it will be.