Pigletzander Calder
This was created for a civic, fundraising event that had a sense of humor.
Originally it stood at the main entrance to the Cincinnati Art Museum.
It then spent a season in Chicago. It now lives in Beaufort, South Carolina.
This is an art joke. It is not supposed to be a beautiful, evocative new work. It is supposed to mimic a famous body of work in an amusing way. However, the reference is obscure enough that you might need to be an art curator or an art student to get it.
This is the joke. Alexander Calder was the world-famous sculptor who made mobiles into an art form. This is a pig mobile. So it's called Pigletzander Calder. See what I mean? Unless Calder's name already is familiar to you (along with a little Cincinnati history concerning pigs) it is more likely to raise an eyebrow than a laugh. But if you want to know why they laugh, click Alexander Calder and a little Cincinnati history.
The red things are wings and the small, yellow, wavy thing at
the opposite end from the pig is it's tail. 
Click pics to enlarge
It is built of wooden box beams and has survived a wind storm that knocked down trees around it. There is steel in the joints and the feet, but the rest is a furniture grade mahogany plywood from Indonesia. I'd have made the whole thing out of steel if I'd had any idea it would be purchased for a permanent installation. I'd thought my biggest problem would be disposing of it after the show, so I made it out of wood.
I
created it for The Big Pig Gig
in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA with the sponsorship of the Trustees of The
Cincinnati Art Museum. It was purchased by a benefactor for The
Arts Council of Beaufort County in South Carolina where it is on permanent display. (If you are in Beaufort and want it rebuilt out of steel, let me know)
At right is an 80% scale prototype I built to explore engineering the wood.
The three people who want still more pictures of Pigletzander can click More Pics.
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