Thursday, November 27, 2008

Mary's Annunciation gets a make over

Hey!

I will be at Union Square tomorrow (today?) Friday, November 28, 2008 to sell some miniature sculptures for ya.

Only a few will be new, the two larger ones will be the guy in the last blog, who ended up not having wings because they did not look nice on him, and also the piece below.

This piece was conceptualized from one of the works of Guido di Pietro da Mugello, or better known as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, or just simply Fra Angelico (Angelic Brother). He was born in at the turn of the 14th century and died in 1455. He is well-known for his fresco wall paintings, the polymer people above were modeled from his "Annunciation" which he painted at the Monastery of San Marco in Florence Italy around 1438-1445. The figures in the Annunciation are indicators of the artists ability to create shadows through shading and also the figures poses mimic the arches in the piece, yet my polymer figures do not interact with their space so intimately. They are a contemporized "annunciation", the announcement that one is pregnant is often a happy one, but not so in this case, the mother-to-be in my figures is in contemplation as Gabriel looks onto her.

The Fresco can be seen below.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

New Piece - el hombre extremo 1

Note, this blog contains polymer nudity, so although just clay I know some of you may be offended by it, this is your warning.

So lately I’ve been really wanting to make some male figures to embody the ultimate man. These figures are inspired by a real person who shall remain anonymous. I plan on making a series of these, the pose and at times features are a personal ideal, all of these figures will be various shades of brown. I just completed my first one, I am very happy with it, I enjoyed sculpting the physique, it is different than a woman’s body, more angular, less curvy and sensual and more bumpy for lack of a better term.

Below check out photos of the progress, which began with the head, went on to sculpting the chest and abdominals, penis, and onto the toes on the feet and the fingers on the hands, this was a new pose for me, taken from life. The figure will remain as is, uncolored and unpainted, to give a sculptural quality to the piece, there will still be wings though, clear cycad wings.

Click any pic to see it big.








Saturday, November 22, 2008

FIVE YEARS OF POLYMER CLAY

Hi,
many of you have seen the "gallery" page on http://www.thebutterflypeople.com/ on which I put over 200 pictures of my favorite butterfly people from January 2004 until current. Well, this page will come down soon after the new year comes in, maybe around my late mothers birthday in Febuary. The new page will feature all of my latest works as to keep things current, but I have created a permanent page for the photos to be kept for those who like to look at them (I know one person wants to print out pictures of them and create a coffee table book), the address is http://guppie51.tripod.com/fiveyears.htm
Bookmark it if you enjoy it, again since my site wont have it in about three months.





11-22-08 in review


Today felt a return of sorts to Union Square since many a Saturday passed by in which I wanted to be at the park but had to attend a street fair instead. I must say, the crisp Autumn air and 30-degree weather was something I rather enjoyed, I like the feel that is in the air, it is a cheery and light hearted kind of time of year. The holiday season is upon us and I will NOT complain, its easier than ever to sell and I must keep up with the demand. I will be making ten little baby basket-weave-head sleeping figures for next weekend and a few “fairy” girls. These girls will be simply fairies with the leafy clothes and everything. Both are small sized therefore $10 each.
But back to the day… the day was sunny, gorgeous if a bit cold, and just a real pleasure to be a part of, something about street vending makes me feel like I lived life, I can easily spend two weeks at home and the time passes by and is never re-claimed, yet when I go outdoors (especially with my camera) and capture the day, I can always reflect and that single day was more active and fun than an entire two weeks at home. See the video above for some of my antics with fellow artist Lisa Park who is a photographer, and some girl jumping on two guys lying on the sidewalk. Below, check out some pics of me dancing and being silly. The beautiful figure below with the purple poppies and straight hair was sold to a very good fan of the butterfly people. Thanks to all of you who help make my journey a happy one!




UNION SQUARE PARK today at 1pm!


Hi, I will be at Union Square today to sell off all of my old stock and prepare for the holiday season new stuff! I will be there for Four hours from one to five on this beautiful but cold day!
See you there.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

No More Street Fairs! + The Last Supper (Humanity) Piece


This vid comes as a sort of bitter sweet goodbye to the 2008 street fair season which last from Mid April until the middle of November. This was the last one, I must say that the 2008 street fair season was highly successful and I look forward to the Christmas season which begins now! Several Union Square dates will be posted in the schedule section, I will try and keep these regular so that I am easy to find.

*My other project with the polymer figures is coming along nicely, there are currently ten figures made, I want to have thirteen so I am very close to completion of the people to go in it, next step is to get my composition together, I will do several sketches and scan them for you to see. I am still relying on my inspiration from The Last Supper, I want to have thirteen figures interacting with each other, but have now decided that they all be female, is this a challenge to male dominance? Is this a celebration of the female body? Is this me not knowing how to sculpt the male form properly? Why? I want NUDE females because the Last Supper is being flipped on its head. The figures will contradict the classic version by turning the figures into their polar opposites, men become women, clothed figures become nude, and yet still retain that sense of communal harmony with each other. The human spirit must be captured through the interactions between the figures. The figures will not be white skinned, they will be various shades of brown from very light pinkish to very dark chocolate brown, this is present-day mingling of cultures, this is our future, this is now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Street Fair today 11-11-08

With the success of this Sunday, I have high hopes for today which although cold, will be a sunny and crisp autumn Veterans day.
I will be on 56th street between 5th avenue and Madison so if you are going to the parade, check me out afterwards, we will be there from 9:30 until 6pm.
Now, for those like Jane and Jonathan who come to every street fair, I dont have any new pieces, for the rest of you, come see my stuff!
-Pedro

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Street Fair Today

Hi, I am participating in the Madison Ave Holiday Expo today I will be on Madison between 43rd and 44th streets on space #523 with butterfly items from mariposa Gallery and also the butterfly people. Come out, its going to be a beautiful day after the four days of rain!
9:30am-6pm

Friday, November 7, 2008

New Project - Humanity

Living in New York City is unlike anything I have ever experienced and likely will experience in my life. New York city is called the melting pot for a reason. Heritage, culture, and diversity. There is culture everywhere, any given community or neighborhood can easily contain several ethnic groups. I do not see this phenomenon as a negative thing, I am from Virginia and in Virginia I did not experience such diversity, the diversity that did exist existed along lines of segregation (whether self imposed or not), and those who were from outside cultures were often assimilated into American society and customs. Not so in NYC! NYC is amazing, New York City shows that when groups of people from diverse cultures combine, the result is an increased awareness of human nature. To have customs and rituals that one believes in and to hand them down from generation to generation preserved in festivals and religious events is beautiful. On the other hand, the overlapping, meshing, and restructuring of these ideas, customs, and heritage is what makes NYC so special. Someone who comes here with little cultural awareness leaves in unwavering awe of the human condition.

With that said, a new project is in the works, it incorporates interactions like those from Jacopo Bassano’s The Last Supper, put together with various figures representing the diversity of our City, our nation, our world, and putting the figures on a multi-tier piece of architecture to properly showcase each individual. The figures will be sculpted in various shades of brown so that different skin tones can be represented. Facial features will be both ethnic and European, this project is to have some symbolism in it. Butterfly wings will not be on all figures, those enlightened individuals will have wings, those seeking enlightenment will be growing wings, and those who continue to live in ignorance will be wingless. Everything will be in shades of brown, garments will range from American clothes to rags and togas. Again, the interactions between individuals will be of utmost importance to me, to depict the figures communicating is the show the assimilation of ideas and practices from one person/culture to another. There will be conversation, physical touching, and listening.
Stay tuned, Ive sketched out the rough copy, at this time I feel the piece will have a base with a bout a 12” circumference and rise up 3” before going back stair step style until there is a pyramid of 4, 3” steps. The top “step” will have a couple of figures at most, and the last step can probably contain as many as eleven or twelve figures (yikes!) Id better get to sculpting, I want this ready before a month so that I can include it in my graduate school application slides.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Found em'

I actually had a scare last Saturday, the scare was that I had neglected to bring with me any of my new items including a custom order which my customer Mrs. Heart came to get and I didn't have it! I am happy to announce she is safe and sound, here is a picture of her showing the wings which I'm sure they will love!
I also made a few more little slumbering child figures since they have become so popular.