The Movement

What started as a small little story has grown into a very unique event.  In a combined effort to go green, recycle, and have a little quirky fun, I ended up producing some crazy art.  It all started with a crankshaft and a damaged engine rod that were spare parts after doing a failure analysis on a race car engine for a client.  I was looking at the parts and got the idea for a Daschund dog, and made a ‘Lawn Wiener’.  What I expected at home was World War III due to the car parts laying in the yard.  When my wife saw it she said “Oh, that’s cute!”  My daughter took one look and said “Hey I want one too!”  This was not the reaction I was expecting. 

I fabricated a bunch more creatures to enjoy around the yard and started getting neighbors asking for tours.  Then the ones in the front yard started wandering off.  So then I did a show to see what the interest level was, and sold more items than expected.  I have done a few commissioned pieces, with four more requests, and have built up to an eleven foot tall Praying Mantis and Kokapelli man.   Most of the pieces start with spare Nascar parts and some other misc race car parts from spares collected over the years.  

Back to the Movement.  There is a section of road nearby that was all torn up from a bunch of underground work being done to it.  Once the underground infrastructure was completed, the city just left the horrible worksite looking like a nuclear waste containment facility that went on for miles, and with concrete manholes just sticking up two feet above the ground.  The road is fairly heavily traveled, so in an act of random kindness, some art was added to the manholes in an attempt to beautify the government abandoned wasteland.  After a while, the art started to disappear.  Then I added some more, only to have it wander off again.  Most recently I added nine items only to have eight left while I was still out distributing the art! So it has gotten to the point where people are racing to get the stuff as fast as I can get it out there.  Within three days, only three items of the nine remained.  

Trying to be anonymous, I dubbed the activity “The Guerilla Art Movement”.  Recently, two joggers stopped  by my house to tell me they love the stuff I am doing. They requested I keep doing it as they have fun looking at it and trying to figure out what the stuff is while they run by.  Other neighbors have stopped by to share how much they love the stuff and take pictures of each new one.   While leaving the hardware store another guy yelled out across the parking lot “Hey I love your art out on the road”.  So I guess I am not as stealthy as I thought I was.  

One day I found a note with a phone number on an art piece from a lady who said she had seen someone taking the art.  I was glad I called as she had an interesting story.  She told me she travels by two times a day and always looks for the stuff as it is fun and she wonders how long it will last.  She has sent her husband and kids up to see it, and has stopped with her camera to get pictures of each piece.  While traveling home one day she saw a truck with two guys loading some pieces.  She stopped to talk to “the artist” and share how much she enjoys the work.  Asking if they made the art they said no.  About then she figured out they were stealing the stuff and she suggested they should leave it for all to enjoy.  Then another car stopped by. The man in it also wanted to check out the stuff, and she told the man what was going on. About then the guys in the truck raced off, and the man jumped in his car to give chase.  She did not know what happened after that.  

So how crazy was that! Two people stopped at the same time and chased off the thieves, as they wanted the stuff left out to be enjoyed.  About then I realized this had taken on a bigger life of it’s own and it was time to share on a larger scale.  So a friend helped me set up this website so that we could get started sharing the stories. 

My hope for the Movement is that you, my fellow artists, will produce some art as a random act of kindness donated for others to enjoy.  Whether you can make donations at a local children’s hospital, get permits from the city to display for periods of time, or find a rancher who will let you use his property, let’s leave some stuff out for others to see while they’re traveling.  You get the idea, be however creative you can get.  And now you have a place to post some of your pics and stories.  

Go forth and have fun!  

The Gorilla