Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/05/22/mickey-rooney-gets-plaque-for.html
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I see the artist who did the Lucille Ball statue is still getting work.
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Came here to post this. Was not disappointed.
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One might get the feeling that bronze isn’t the ideal medium to depict non-horrifying human faces…
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Sure, blame the bronze.
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Well, it sure ain’t the metal’s fault.
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I think it’s an incredibly accurate likeness that’s been tossed under a steamroller.
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I am not a great sculptor and haven’t done it in 20 years, but I think I’d have done a better job.
The shape of the face wasn’t even right.
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Are there just not a lot of good sculptors out there?
Mickey Rooney deserves the plaque. He never lost a women’s soccer game.
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Yikes! I remember that. Along with busts, Dave Poulin doesn’t know Jack-Squat about human anatomy.
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AFAYK.
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I’m just guessing there are a lot of great sculptors out there; I’ve seen some amazing, knockout, amateur stuff out there, and I’ll bet there are more amateur sculptors than professional ones.
As far as sculptors who depend on commissioned works, maybe the question is (1) how many are large scale sculptors, (2) what a client can afford, and (3) well-funded clients’ propensity to go for well-known sculptors.
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I’ve met Clara a few times and you won’t find a better human being anywhere on this planet.
Artist was entirely new to medium. Makes sense their first stab should be so prominently displayed. sigh.
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Why? Why would you hire someone to sculpt something that has no experience in that area?
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This.
A few observations from personal experience:
- Portrait sculpture is difficult.
- Portrait sculpture from reference photos is even more difficult.
- Low-relief portrait sculpture is more difficult than portrait sculpture in the round, and low relief portrait sculpture from reference photos… well, you get the idea.
- Jobs like this almost always go to the lowest bidder. Corporate clients and clients from outside the arts tend to expect that artists work for the love of art, and that the paycheck is like icing on a cake. Not so. Those same clients usually harbor the misapprehension that artistic talent magically yields amazing results in no time at all. Really, really not so. I have had the good fortune to know and work with some of the best figure sculptors in the U.S., and the hours they put in are insane. At the end of the day, it’s not a living wage.
- Figure sculpture is a dying art. Many sculpture programs don’t even teach it anymore. It’s technical and time consuming, and students raised on computer modeling and multimedia don’t have much appetite for it. The majority of people working in the collectibles market don’t even touch wax or clay these days - they model in z-brush, print on an ProJet, and clean up in the plastic.Their files go straight to injection molding houses in China.
Sorry, I guess that got a little ranty. I hate to see those skills and knowledge go out of the world, but… 'nuff said.
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Haha, okay, you got me. I was really thinking by some weird quirk Mickey Rooney played women’s soccer somewhere during his career. But, I’m going with Gary Busey on the plaque likeness. Wow, that’s a horrible rendition of Brandi Chastain.
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