lunch money

randall · Post by **randall** » Mar 18th, '08, 08:38

OK....in the briefest possible way....started painting at 5..built a lot of models as a kid....BFA in painting...painted and worked as a carpenter...rolled that into brief (7 year) career as an architectural designer and model builder. famous architect decides i should do large installation sculpture (wave on web site)...borrow tools...do sculpture....10 years of architectural sculpture (including two working for steve wynn) a carved lecturn for church in seattle that features a carved book as a bible rest......thought it was neat so started carving books....which let me come full circle and paint again. expand to other paper objects...yellow pads, maps and charts, money.

Buju · Post by **Buju** » Mar 18th, '08, 09:17

Makes sense. Do you know of anyone else doing anything even remotely similar?
I'd say that not only are you in a class by yourself, but that you've created it. Again, amazing.

randall · Post by **randall** » Mar 18th, '08, 09:51

there are a handful of other guys that are on a similar arc. but we all do different subject matter..check out this guyswork....ive seen it in real life and its great

http://www.public.asu.edu/~eckert33/default0.htm

mike ohlstein · Post by **mike ohlstein** » Mar 18th, '08, 10:28

But does he have a Bertram?

CaptPatrick · Post by **CaptPatrick** » Mar 18th, '08, 10:36

I'd say that not only are you in a class by yourself, but that you've created it.

Unquestionably, Randall IS in a class by himself!

There are books on painting & books on carving, but Randy is the only, (I believe), artist carving books & painting them in a realism manner. There are some examples of wooden books done to look like the real thing on a shelf from a spline view or laying on a surface top, but I've never seen one opened as Randy does...

There have been plenty of painted, pen & ink, & pencil drawings of money on canvas, paper, & other 2 dimensional mediums, but none on wood in the third dimension to look like the real deal. A lot of people make money carving wood, but Randy is presumably to only one really making wooden money that in turn makes real money...However, wooden nickels were issued, by the Government, in the US in the 1930s, after the Great Depression.

There are charts on wood species, but, again, our resident artist supreme, is the only one using wood species to make charts...

Maps in wood, plenty of CNC stuff out there, but as conceptual art? Probably nada...

He even makes wood sculptures that looks like the wood is still growing...

Amazing? Perhaps a bit of an understatement...

Thanks Randy, for enriching all of our lives.

BTW, I saw some of Tom's works back in the '70s which was pretty good, but he's also evolved into something astonishingly mind bending. Question is, are his recent works also from a single block of wood?

I like the fact that your work still retains the quality of the wood & techniques, rather than Tom's ultra/super-realisim that totally hides reality.

Br,

Patrick

randall · Post by **randall** » Mar 18th, '08, 13:19

thanks patrick....for me its a real tightrope walk...ideally i like people to buy into the realism from a few feet away then get close and eventually go WTF.......thats why i dont hide the fact that its wood and use knots a lot. once i was standing near a yellow pad in a group show and heard a woman say "look how clever this is....the way he drew grain on this yellow pad to make it look like wood" having seen toms work in person at a mutual clients collection i have to say that it is superb. he uses air brush to make the fabric look transparent...really very cool.....but alas he does not have a bertram

nic · Post by **nic** » Mar 18th, '08, 17:45

randall wrote:...but alas he does not have a bertram

It is a sad fact that so many people who should know better let themselves down in that way.

Nic

Hueso · Post by **Hueso** » Mar 19th, '08, 15:50

"muy buen trabajo.....realmente espectacular!" ............BTW.......have you shaped a B31?.........if so......would you post some pics please.....

randall · Post by **randall** » Mar 19th, '08, 17:13

thanks amigo.......ive painted a few..patrick has two on his book and walter has one on his calendar...........and vic has one on his book too

Kingfish · Post by **Kingfish** » Mar 19th, '08, 22:32

Randall all I can say is unbelieveable!

Went to your web page, again amazing to say the least.

JP Dalik · Post by **JP Dalik** » Mar 21st, '08, 19:12

Randall,
Looked at something today and thought of you.
Old I mean really old books like leather clad Mercruiser manuals (like jumbo thick book size) sitting vertically on a sagging plywood shelf, covers tearing off peeled back in fine layers due to time.
Equally vintage catalogs and repair manuals stacked horizontally on them.
Really need looking.
Just thought I'd let you know

You've altered my perception of reality.

Now I need a new reason to drink.

randall · Post by **randall** » Mar 21st, '08, 19:32

thanks..i can picture it...mike gave me a hunk of walnut and i carved an old almanac with a broken spine. thing with paper objects...its endless...ill never get to carve 1 percent of the stuff i think about.

you need a reason to drink?

bertram31.com

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