Atlas “World Famous”

 

Atlas Sculpture, 2006
recycled steel
75″ high x 48″ wide x 12″ deep

Atlas: World Famous is my first large-scale sculpture made using a plasma cutter to create metal collage.

Getting the plasma cutter up and running has been really exciting. My neighbor just down the street works on old cars from the 40s and 50s. His yard is piled high with junk… so, the other day, I stopped in and introduced myself and asked if he’d like to get rid of all the car body panels cluttering up his yard. Sure, he said! So I now have a large supply of nicely aged colors to work with. This is one of those great examples of the artist as beneficial parasite… I get free material and in the process, I clean up the neighborhood, help my neighbor make better use of his yard space and recycle steel that would eventually have just rusted into the ground. Pretty much everyone wins!

It also turns out that Chris (my neighbor) is a really cool guy. Turns out, he’s traveled all over the world (including 3 illicit trips to Cuba) and has had all kinds of really unusual and interesting experiences.

 

 

The sculpture is 75″ high x 48″ wide x 12″ deep, which means that Atlas himself is pretty much life-size. Here’s a picture of me standing behind the piece so you can see the scale. I’, about six feet tall.

 

 

Below is the image this sculpture is based on. It’s one of my all-time faves… I did an Atlas mosaic in glass and bottle caps a couple years ago, using the same image. The original is from the Mexican Loteria deck, a traditional game similar to Bingo.