The history behind this sculpture is simple. Clayburn Moore and I were constantly after Frank to do some sculpting. He enjoyed helping out on the DEATH DEALER sculpture from Randy Bowen and he had a lot of input into Clay Moore's projects, i.e. the Princess and Conan sculptures. It would give him a project to engage his mind and it would provide good exercise for his hands and arms to help his post-stroke rehabilitation. Clay showed Frank the correct way to assemble an armature and bought him some sculpting materials. Frank was a bit stubborn and he resisted for a long time.
Finally, he sat down and created this self-portrait. There was a bit of debate about the eyes. Ellie wanted him to add pupils. Frank wanted them to be vacant. He said it gave the piece a more classical look. I was very happy to see the final result. Frank was quite proud of the piece and there were plans to produce a small edition in bronze. Sadly, nothing happened. Perhaps it will in the future. With the right production and the right patina it would be a nice product and a nice tribute to Frank.
(c)2010 Dr. Dave Winiewicz
2 comments:
A great piece indeed. It seems to me he chose to sculpt a younger version of himself. Did he have a model (maybe his self-portrait or something) ?
On a side note, I'd like to thank you for posting again. It's so good to read new stuff about Frank.