Making Our Mark

After starting work as a project manager at CNY, they discovered my portfolio of artwork online, specifically the Conference Room Logo and expressed an interest in my designing something in concrete for them.

Although the ultimate idea came to me in an instant - the company logo overlaid on a map of midtown Manhattan, the development from concept to final design took several months.

The first idea I had was to simply press a technical drawing - a detail of a foundation section, something like this image with a prominent company logo, but this didn't really feel like a design at all.

I looked at an Apple map (not the best source I admit) of the area where their office was and saw cropped building dotting a landscape. And that gave me the thought - what if it was a map of Manhattan - cropped down to a low height?

With that as an idea I used a piece of polurethane rubber that I cut through with an X-Acto before pouring concrete over it. This showed me that it was possible, and that the buildings would be sturdy at roughly .5" tall.

The image below is how I imagined it may appear - the logo pressed into streets, but appearing to allow the buildings to run uninterrupted on top of it.

The buildings appeared to be too big and hid too much of the logo - so I had to resize it, so that that instead of stretching across one neighborhood, it appeared to span from The East to The Hudson Rivers.

At this time it also became apparent that Apple Maps had less than accurate representations of the buildings that I was looking to model so I determined that I would have to draw my own map using satellite photos as a guide. I had to use a high resolution composite image to achieve the scale I was looking for.

I used the photo and then set about "erasing" the buildings that would appear on the finished piece. The offices of CNY are on the 4th floor of their building - about 55 Feet off the street. I used a 3D model of the city as a guide and erased any buildings that appeared to be above that height. Because CNY is a construction company, only buildings were taken into account, roadways and roadway structures were ignored, along with all buildings below 55 feet.

I created a layer underneath the map as a guide. This would let me know when I had erased enough buildings and give me a sense of scale. In the end it turned out to be too big - I didn't want to press too far into the rivers - and I scaled it back some.

The contrast on this image was then manipulated and cropped until I had a black and white image of the buildings, a slice of New York at 55 feet.

This image file was then traced in AutoCAD, and laid over a vector file of the logo. Because the finished dimensions of this cast were outside my comfortable working limits these files were then handed off to Trueform Concrete to mold and cast.

There was some concern that the logo pressed into the street would not be visible if the "rooftops" of all the buildings was the same, so we asked Trueform to cast a square foot sample of the most complex portion of the piece (the upper right of the "C"). The concern was justified because while the logo is visible, it just gets lost in the noise of the building pattern.

To overcome this problem without paying for a lot more sample casts we built a 3D model of the previously draw CAD file. This allowed us to experiment with the logo and buildings within it depressed at different heights. It was ultimately decided that all buildings would be one half inch tall, and that the logo would be depressed one inch below the street level. This allowed the line of the logo to appear to cut across buildings and maintain its integrity so as to remain visible even at a distance. Or so we hoped. Digital models while accurate in proportion don't always model lighting and shadows correctly - and this piece is all about light and shadow.

This also required we re-examine every intersection of the logo and the buildings to prevent any parts of the future cast from being susceptible to breakage for being too small. Some liberties were taken with narrow buildings or buildings compromised by the logo that cut into them as seen on the right.

It took months but eventually Trueform sent an image of the block of foam that had been routed with the design. They declared it the most detailed piece they had ever worked on. The logo was clearly visible so I was satisfied.

After the model is complete it is first painted with a black primer to seal it.

A second coat of sealer and easy release agent turns the model white. Once complete it is anchored to the bottom of a wooden box that is just the right size. The box is then filled with eighteen gallons of silicone rubber.

When this rubber hardens it will become the mold for the final concrete cast. The finished mold is visible to the left.

The completed desk is on the right.

Detail view of the Y

View of the desk from the elevator lobby. It was featured in an article written about CNY's new offices in Commercial Observer.

Desert Masonry Candle Blocks

I was fortunate enough to spend two months in early 2017 living and studying architecture at Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio in Scottsdale Arizona.

The  students of the school are required to perform tasks such as washing dishes, making lunch, cleaning the studio, etc.

One of these duties included not just setting the dining tables, but also redecorating the room. At my first lunch I sat down to a table set with several tea lights in glass containers - my first lunch by candlelight. And this gave me an idea.

The simple glass tealight holders struck me as somewhat out of place and it made me wonder what a candlestick designed according to Wright's principles would look like. Because of my interest in concrete I figured I could make some interesting casts to serve my purpose.

The more I worked on the design the more I realized that I had to come up with something completely new to me - something appropriate to the tables at Taliesin West.

All that it takes to hold a tea light is a concrete block with a recess to receive the candle. But to make it appropriate to Taliesin, I cut all four sides by 15 degrees and added a horizontal groove matching Wright's original proportions.


The first step involved creating an object that had the right overall shape, and then pouring polyurethane rubber over it.

I used existing candle sticks to create the positives that would form the cut outs in a future cast.

This mold was then used to create a perfect positive. And from the perfect positive, a new perfect negative was created. The perfect negative was used to cast the finished pieces.

The earliest cast was vibrated too much, which resulted in the surface stones sliding back into the mix and smooth surfaces. It took about four or five tries before I got the concrete mixture and vibration procedure correct.

In May of 2019 Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine profiled the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's effort to have them manufactured by developmentally disabled adults. The article can be found here: https://www.phgmag.com/tag/desert-masonry/

A month later the state of Arizona also published a write-up on the collaboration. https://des.az.gov/featured-story/dirt-d%C3%A9cor

 

'Morning

I like the look of just waking up after a night of fun and regret. I think this piece based on a selfie taken by River Viiperi, and used with his permission, captures that pretty well.

Braid

 

A straightforward 32"x32" eight layer cutting of bodybuilder Zach Zeiler from 2018, still sporting his padawan braid. He's since become a full Jedi Master.

Shane

Although I've been trying to focus on images taken by my friends and me, occasionally I come across one that stands out.

I've been a fan of the photographer Pat Lee since I was in college. His photographs are iconic, distinctive, and just flat out beautiful. I was intimidated to ask for permission to use any photo of his in work of mine because I didn't want to be turned down by someone whose work I'd admired for so long.

When I did work up the courage to ask Pat was gracious enough to offer not just permission, but encouragement. I'm honored to say he's become a fan of my own.

In looking through his work I decided to go back in time a bit and chose to work with an older image of the young bodybuilder Shane Giese playing with a dumbbell backstage at a competition.

My work generally focuses on masculine intimacy and I think this is a nod to every teenage boy who lusted after a body available only through a relationship with weights.

A time lapse video of the cutting process is below.

The Second Offering

In 2004 I cast a disappearing fountain out of concrete. It continues to work just fine, but I gave it away to a friend who admired it when I got an idea for a new one.

This is its replacement. Water is pumped from a basin underneath into a central well that causes it to spill over into a square trough and is then channeled into grooves cut into each side.

There are drains cut into the four corners of the trough that allow water to fall through the piece into eight openings at the corners. I like the idea of it seeming to do so invisibly.

The photo above illustrates how the cast looks after six months with algae growth, water marks, and a slowly darkening patina on the concrete. Below is it's appearance after one month of operation.

Kenworthy

A month ago the Olympic free skier Gus Kenworthy made national news when he came out as gay. Even though I'm a die hard fan of the Olympics it was the first time I'd heard of him so I started following him on social media.

He recently posted a selfie taken on the edge of a half pipe with mountains behind the camera. The bright blue eyes in the ski mask as well as the reflection on his goggles was interesting so I figured I'd give it a try. I think the result is great - and it's gotten me interested in using other images that involve mirrors or reflections.

I cut this full size (32"x32") in order to capture the details in the first go.

A detail shot is below.

Sundown

This is Sundown, the 40"x32" version of Daibes Sunset. I've cut this image multiple times (A view from my bedroom) - I like the subtle colors of the yellows. And while I think this will be the last time I cut this image, I am tempted to do it in multiple colors more representative of a true sunset.

The off axis view is below.

Daniel

This is the full scale 20"x40" version of last year's "LoveD". This image is fairly personal and I had no plans to execute a full size version of it.

And then I met the artist Cassandra Complex, who expressed interest in it. I agreed to create it full size for her in exchange for one of her paintings.

Shy

This is the 32"x40" version of "The Sob", created in 2010.

This is based on the photo "T" taken by Rick Day.

The light background of the image required reversing the order of colors: darkest on the bottom, lightest on top.

I'm happy that I was able to bring out details on the model's back that were too small to include on the test version of this cutting.

Like "Therapy" this cutting is made of nine layers - my current maximum.

The off-axis view is below.

Pride

This is Pride, 32"x32" - eight layers done in the vivid blues of my recent work.

The two lightest shades are substantially lighter than the other six so I made sure that they were restricted to use in the background.

This is my best friend being hugged goodbye by his mom, on his first day at college.

Normally I'd have removed any text on his ballcap - but in this piece it felt appropriate to let it remain.

I thoroughly enjoy the way the layers come together to create her wedding band.



The off axis is below.

Exhaustion

This is the final version of the earlier "A Nap a Day" piece, cut in 2012. At 32"x40" it is four times larger than the earlier piece, and completed in the same shades of blue used for "Look" and "Acceptance".

Buttermilk

 Four years ago I cut "Buttermilk in May" done in six layers of shades of blue as a test for the image. In executing that piece I left out a lot of detail.

In completing the full scale version, I decided to add the detail I felt was missing from the earlier piece which I think is successful.

This is my first real cutting done in green.

Hedonist

I follow a lot of fitness models and athletes online for artistic/ aesthetic reasons, and general inspiration. One of them is Joe Delaney of http://www.jd-fitness.com/ - a young English trainer who describes himself as "personal trainer, hedonist, optimist, pancake enthusiast".

I was really fascinated by the downward cast of the face - and that the shadows looked very abstract on an otherwise straightforward body image. Up close it almost appears messed up in a Picasso-like abstraction.

The final piece measures 20"x40" and is composed of six layers. The off-axis shot is below.

Look

The 16"x20" artworks I produce and give away are usually small scale rough drafts. The larger versions incorporate extra layers and more detail.

This is "Look" the 20"x40" final draft of the earlier "Hamm w/ Cheese."

Compared to the earlier piece, two additional layers were used making a total of eight. Details were added to the forehead, nose, and zippers; even individual zipper teeth are visible. The mats used, while still blue, are more vivid.

The off axis detail of the eyes is below.

Acceptance

I'm not going to talk about this one.

Hamm w/ Cheese

Earlier this year I began following an artist on Facebook who it turns out is one of the most beautiful human beings alive... go figure.

He's whimsical, irreverent, intelligent, and he has this uncommon ability to look like he's photobombing his own pics.

One of them, taken with a webcam, and posted last May caught my attention because of the size of his eyes and the shadows of his body... I knew I could do something with it. Here is the result.

The off axis is below.