Venetian City

It was a once in a life time art job. I have a feeling I might not have the opportunity to create something quite like this again. I guess we will just have to wait and see...

This was created in a bedroom, for a man that owned the largest poster company in the United States. The format is as follows: The ceiling was painted my signature sky with stars, this art project was for the space above his closet so that when he lay down in his bed he could look up and see this Venetian City above him. It is 12 feet long 5 feet high and 2 feet deep. It does not end there, it follows around the room where his very tall bookcases lined the walls so I created more buildings for that area too. I build each building individually with inverted windows and doorways,
where sculpted people reside, a sculpted cat sitting in a chair, icon style paintings on an easel, a laundry woman hanging out the days washing, a lady in a gown standing on a balcony,a statue of a nude female , hanging vines with dimensional grapes and on and on. The patron spent several grand lighting it so that it looked like water glowing off the buildings and to cap it off it is replete with 3-d gondolas and barber poles.

Several years later my Mom and sister treated me to an Italian holiday and when I got to the real Venice I couldn't believe my eyes. It was an inspirational trip and it made me feel good about my creation. This job took 7 months and it was one of the best times and the most difficult challenges I have tackled. I learned a lot about myself and it goes along with the valgal rules of no job to small or to tall or to big if you know what I'm saying. The gentleman and his wife would throw these elaborate parties with interesting people. I would get to visit the installation and hear and see the reaction to the city in the bedroom. It was not something that you would see every day. At that point I could separate myself from the critical voice within and just say wow what a unique and amazing experience! For me art is where dream and fantasy come together.

This is a digital shot of a photograph, the only way I could show you the room. The white thing on the ceiling is the fan it had a glowing orb that looked like the moon, this is a shot of the closet (kinda cut off ) with 12 ft. of city. This project was commissioned in 1994.