Aug 26, 2010: Wood Sculpture
 

Randall Rosenthal sculptures wood.
It's not whittling, it's a little like carving, but like nothing you've seen before.

This is made from one piece of wood... even the rubber bans, and the box.

http://cellar.org/2010/carve1.jpg

The price is $25,000, which isn't too bad considering what it takes to produce.

Look at how it's done...

http://cellar.org/2010/carve2.jpg

Even if I had the patience to carve it, I couldn't do the painting. :dunce:

His website with a lot more pictures.

via

Lets see.

Take a picture.
Pass the resulting jpeg to the CAM software.
Send the resulting G-Code to the router.
Put wood on the router table.
Press Start.
Go have a sandwich.


I do think it's cool. Much better than dead babies.

That might work for getting a roughed out blank, but you'll still have weeks of carving ahead. Especially with wood, where things like those notebook rings tend to snap off.

Yeah, the router will get you to picture one. Pictures 2, 3 and 4 require hand carving. Routers can't do thing like carve the ends of the scallions. They can't get underneath.

This guy is very talented.

Imaging technology, CAM Software, computer driven routers... Defeated by scallions!

Well right on his site it clearly says:
Fantastic work.

"Who are your gods now?"

I saw that too, but to get to the first picture, he clearly used a router, and probably used a band saw. The rest was by hand, but he used power tools too. Nothing wrong with that.

Thanx Shawnee. Your onions video made my morning. It is sooo deep and meaningful.

But it looks like clutter. Who spends thousands on clutter sculptures? I thinks he needs to come up with some better ideas...

:p:

I remembered it from me and my brother's old Loony Tunes album, then found this info about it (anyone else have it?):

Q: Was Looney Tunes the name of the artist or the album? There was an album called "Looney Tunes" by the artist Telex released in 1988...In the 1970's "K-Tel" released an album called "Looney Tunes" as well. Do you know what the cover looked like or have any more information?

A:
1. Napoleon XIV - They're Coming To Take Me Away
2. The Coasters - Along Came Jones
3. Alan Sherman - Hello Mudduh Hello Faddah
4. The Rivingtons - Birds The Word
5. Ed Byrnes - Kookie Lend Me Your Comb
6. David Seville - Witch Doctor
7. Buzz Clifford - Baby Sittin Boogie
8. Nervous Norvus - Transfusion
9. Joe Perkins - Little Effin Annie
10. Lonnie Donegan - My Old Mans A Dustman
11. Charlie Drake - My Boomerang Won't Come Back
12. Ray Stevens - The Streak
13. Harv Norman - Rubber Duckie
14. Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Thru The Tulips
15. The Coasters - Charlie Brown
16. Nervous Norvus - Ape Call
17. The Hustlers - Shaving Cream
18. The Rivingtons - Papa Oom Mow Mow
19. Jumpin Gene Simmons - Haunted House
20. Sam the Sham And the Pharoahs - Little Red Riding Hood
21. Zacherle - Dinner With Drac
22. Susan Christie - I Love Onions
23. Ernie K. Doe - Mother In Law
24. The Chipmunks - The Chipmunk Song

OH heck Jinx, People with $25k to blow on that will build a place to put it.

You put it in the path of an obsessive clutter-remover, and wait.

kind of like one of those nickels welded to a nail that you are supposed to pound into the floor.

I had the Loony Tunes on an 8 track. When all my 8 tracks started coming apart at the splicing tape, I spliced them all together onto a reel to reel. Now all the reel tapes are breaking as fast as I can splice them.

My tape also had "Shaving Cream" and "My Boomerang Won't Come Back," and some others I don't remember.

It all depends on Randall's router budget...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnIvhlKT7SY

Excellent video! Looks familiar somehow...

That's not a router, but if he used a CNC 5-axis, the wood wouldn't hold together for that abuse. I know, I used to program them.

In hindsight, I should have thought harder about it having worked for a U.S. manufacturer of CNC Machining centres for the last 27 years.

Then you could do the same in aluminum or phenolic, but you still have to paint them, which to me is harder. Actually for me, that's impossible.:lol:

That 5 axis machine demo you linked to was *amazing*. The way the lower table moved at the same time the upper machine tool was moving - wow!

Beautiful helmet produced, also.

But for a laugh, click on the "most useless machine". Had me rolling at the impudent thing. :p: :p: :p:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z86V_ICUCD4

:D :D

hi ..i just found this site. heres the deal. i use a bunch of conventional shop power tools like a table saw and a router, and even hand held rotary tools. in my world that still falls under "hand made or hand carved." no cnc or computer cutting. actually three quarters of the work is done with a straight edge, a mat knife and a fishtail gauge.

in real life they look real from a few feet away but up close you can see they are wood. often the grain is visible or even a knot or two.

thanks for your interest.

Holy crabcakes Batman! It's the artist himself!

Welcome to the cellar, randall.

Your work is **amazing**.

In my world too. A good craftsman, or artist, always uses the best tools he can get his hands on, but the tools aren't doing the job, he is.
Welcome to the Cellar, randall, and thanks for filling us in with the inside dope. :D

Welcome sir, another fan here. Your work is nothing short of Amazing.
:notworthy

So Randall, how did you find yourself doing this kind of work? A dare? An idea? A challenge?

i started out as a painter and did that till i was 40. then i worked as an architectural designer and the architect i worked with pushed me to do large instillation sculptures. i did that for ten years till i carved a book rest for a lectern that looked like a book............and here we are. thats the short version. look at the website it has lots of architectural work on it also.

thanks for the kind words.


http://www.randallrosenthal.com/

Ah, that explains the incredible detail in the painting. I can see the wood working, with care and patience, but the painting just blows me away. Kudos.

EDIT
Hey, wait a minute... I take back what I said about the carving.
This is impossible. How could you do just this piece in one lifetime, let alone the others?

http://cellar.org/2010/carving.jpg

bruce...thats only a third of it. the actual railing is 24 feet long and follows a nine foot radius to form a half circle.it fits exactly between two walls. it took 6 months to carve and two weeks to install......its made from 3 solid glued up blocks of wood. one trick to what i do is everything is random.....so i can rough out fast and loose and make it up as i go along. only the last few steps are brain surgery.

Holy shit, I'd love to see that. But I never get invited to houses that have that stuff... afraid I'll gnaw on it I guess. :lol:

Awesomeness.

Wow..

I love your path to now.

Is this how you make your living?

Wow!

my last reply didnt quite make it onto this thread but i'll give it another go.....yes, this is what i do for a living....not getting rich but no complaints. i'm much more interested in doing what i want with my life.

I think that's a goal most people dream of, but few achieve, so plenty of people envy you that. :notworthy

put me on that list Bruce... Awesome Randall.

That is just brilliant Randall, thank you for posting!

Yes indeedy, this is the sort of thing that makes me want to make loads of money and commission a railing like that. It would be almost an honor to use it every day sir, what good work by you!

thanks !!......without people with the means to acquire what i do.....i would do a lot less of it. here is the first book carving....its the bookrest. a game changer for me. more fun less money. no regrets.
http://cellar.org/2010/amboweb.jpg

The wealthy have always been patrons, the trick today is finding wealth and taste together. There are a lot of rich people with shit taste. :haha:

Is that book what got you started on the things we saw in my original post?

yes. the lectern is carved from one (glued up) block but the bible rest was separate. it really turned me on, crude as it was. it took a few years to really get it going with the book and then anything paper idea. no shortage of subject matter.

I can imagine the technique of getting the pages to look like leaves of paper, rather than a block with grooved edges, took a lot of trial and error.


btw, I uploaded that picture to our site, because the people that see IOtD in blog view can't always see linked photos.

Randall; How long does something like the Box'O'Money take you to do? And, do you find you sort of burn out on a project and set it down to work on another for a while, or do you just plow thru to completion?

BTW Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions - it's a delight.

spuck....there aint much easier on earth than getting an artist to talk about his work....but thanks. the larger box of money "lunch money" took six weeks to carve and six weeks to paint. i never push it to far. if i get burned out i go do something else. i'm an avid surfer, snowboarder, and like to fish. i just try to keep it in balance so its always fun. as the project nears completion it gets to be more entertaining for for me. its pretty satisfying to go a long distance with no guarantee of success an then get there.

Randall, you're ruining the image of the tortured, recluse artist, snarling from behind closed curtains. :lol:

if thats the image i ruined it completely. once someone told me

"it is impossible to be a good artist and a good athlete at the same time. so your art must suck".

i live in a 130 year old tool shed near the water on eastern long island. went fishing from the canoe today. i dont take my blessings for granted.

Fishing from a canoe, is definitely athletic... tough on the legs. Always the possibility of a Nantucket sleigh ride, too. ;)

the canoe is a battle ship compared to the kayak. i have had one real disaster and one great ride. there are guys here that swim out in the ocean at night with fins and a fishing rod.............

There are also guys that say, 'hold my beer and watch this', but I'm not doing that either.:crazy:

How big are the wall sculptures of the leaves?

they run in size from 2 foot by2 foot to one at merck pharma thats about 18 feet long. you can tell how big each is by the leaves...life size.

Life size, yeah, that's what I was wondering. You know, if you want a bunch of Oak leaves, it's easier to not cut the wood, and let mother nature use it to make a bunch of leaves while you're fishing. :lol:

on another site a guy thought it would be better to just put a bunch of baseball cards in a box and call it a day. his comment "why bother"?

That's just ignorant. From the very beginning -- the cave drawings -- a big, central part of art is representing real life in other forms. What you choose to represent is the soul of the piece.

The baseball card guy isn't alone. The crowd that buy plastic tableaus from China, and velvet paintings on the street corner, may arguably be valuing a very, very, loose definition of art, but will never understand craft... ever. At least couple of generations have grown up never seeing anything made by hand, not even basic utilitarian items. Everything is store bought, without a clue as to how it's created. What Norm Abrams does on TV is just showbiz magic. Even if they take a class trip/vacation to someplace like Sturbridge or Williamsburg, the candle maker/blacksmith/furniture maker they see, are related to history. Completely disconnected from their lives. Sadly, fewer and fewer will experience the pleasure of creating something with their hands.