There's a bird in my A-hole! |

There’s a bird in my A-hole!

6 January 2010 3 Comments

A few years ago I was walking through a parking lot in a strip mall. I looked up at the signage above one of the storefronts and noticed that a bird had nested in the recessed portion of a letter A. My pupils dialated, a smirk was crafted and an idea was born….. “There was a bird in that A-hole!”.

Years pass but that idea was such a little gem that I kept it on my low shelf. Easy to reach. Then one day I get an invitation to participate in a show at the Lodi Project that will showcase Raleigh artists, each creating one letter out of the alphabet. I raced to secure the A. I got it secured. The time has come…… my A-hole will see the light of day.

I decided to create a 3-dimensional representation. I figured an A that was slightly human with a stylized bird in a nest was the route. Some of you may know I have a strange repulsion to birds nests in general. I find them incredibly creepy and gross. They remind me of the inside of a bone or something. Plus, when you really look at a nest, it freaks me out to see what the hell these birds are up to with all this random refuse. Yea, I dont know. Anyway, I used this project to push my way through some of that fear. I got an old nest from one of the bird houses in the yard and used some of the actual nest to create the nest in the sculpture. It was a bit messy but I feel better about things now. Weirdo.

Since this sculpture hinges on a punchline I wanted to create something that would be funny but not overtly obvious. A slight puckering of the negative space should suffice. I initially had planned on having the A sit on a shelf but once I saw that everyone else had workd from a 12″ x 12″ base, I knew I had to quickly rethink things. With the help of some friends (Thanks Mike) I was able to pull together a new boxframe/shelf. I painted it at lunch and it was hung by evening.

The show is going to be first class. It is at the Lodi Project which is a beautifully cool gallery where I got a little preview and the work is awesome. 26 of the cream of the Raleigh litter killing these letters. Everyone looks like they showed up. The artists run down is as follows:

A. Sean Kernick -

B. Brianna Martinez -

C. Dan Nelson -

D. Marc Russo -

E. Keith Norval -

F. Lena Corter -

G. Rob Allen -

H. Joe DiGiulio -

I. Robert King -

J. Gavin Jones -

K. Victor Knight -

L. Madonna Phillips -

M. Emily Jesserer -

N. Bart Cusik -

O. Gabriella Corter -

P. Casey Porn -

Q. Matt Yow -

R. Matt Scofield -

S. Garrett Scales -

T. Geoff Helderman -

U. Antre Reid -

V. Domingo Vega -

W. Sarah Powers -

X. Lisa King -

Y. Sharon DiGiulio -

Z. Greg Davis

Rediculous right? And this is the show thats in the Orchestra area. The larger gallery will host a show primarily focused on the use of typography in a variety of mediums. It will be curated by Scott McClure who will also be taking part in an installation in the lobby gallery with horticultural stylist Erin Weston, and photographer Tim Lytvinenko.

Let’s do the damn thing.

Let the A-hole references unleash.