Monkey versus Robot

Well. We got together Saturday night and hashed it out. Honestly, I think I was feeling pretty nervous (or what passes as nervous for me). We had never really not reached a consensus this late into the process – but there we were – sitting around a table with a bunch of clay and sketchbooks (and a few brewskies) with no real clear idea. There were a few on the table and there were debates as to the merits and non-merits of one, then the other. Then all the other ideas fell away as this new idea came into play.

Monkey versus Robot. As many of you know it’s a song and an album from Burlington’s own super musical star James Kolchaka Superstar. In it he sings about the age old battle of our animal natures versus technology. We’ve listened to Monkey versus Robot and Hockey Monkey many many times when sculpting, so its sort of weird that we didn’t come up with the idea of sculpting something in that vein before.

In doing a little research there are many artists who touch upon these two icons to symbolize the tensions and torsions of our human natures in opposition to the technological advances of the modern age. Adrian had even said earlier, before we sat down to discuss the sculpture, that this was the theme of the Fantastic Mister Fox, a movie they had seen earlier that day. There is even an Iphone app! I do not know how my animal nature knows how to even deal with an Iphone app that pits technology versus animal nature!

So the sculpture now shows the robot with his ray-gun hand and the monkey with his banana-ray-gun. We will attempt to build the rays between them and the blast – where the two rays meet. At least that is the intention. So far the concepts that we have will not be possible at all if the weather is less then 75% perfect and I might even be lenient on that. There is also a bit of a snow moving job that goes along with this, utilizing the full scope of the 12 foot radius we are allowed to build out of the 8 foot diameter cylinder we get.

I’ve been pretty stoked to go and execute before, but I got to say I feel really excited about this one. Sarah got me a monkey belt buckle for Christmas and I see it as sort of a sign that the timing is right.

Possible?

So we have kicking a bunch of ideas around as to what to make for 2010 US Nationals. The deadline is looming, so our heavy regular schedule of procrastination, laziness and other lifely duties has really been paying off for us – in reverse.

This could be something. I had the idea of a guy with a home-made jet pack and things going wrong, so we whipped up this model to see how it might look. His kid is there too – with a remote – becuase if you are going to build a jet pack you should trust your 9 year old with the remote controller. And I through that little doggie in there too because every sculpture should have a dog. (It’s a great photo opportunity when real dogs come up to it).

Adrian has some other ideas so we need to do rock-paper-scissors (or the snow sculpting equivalent, which is saw-scraper-chisel. (chisel smashes scraper, saw covers chisel, scraper cuts your fingers – so be careful when choosing that one.)

So maybe this will never get made into a real sculpture of maybe it will be tweaked to the point of near-recognition – we just don’t know yet! I am open to the possibilities that we haven’t thought of yet!

I was particularly stoked to get the topmost block, as it gave us the mostly uninterrupted photo opportunity for the sculpture with the big Church at the top of Church Street – an iconic image for the town, and here was our chance to play with it. So that chose the orientation of the sculpture for us.

The weather was good. 5 or so until Saturday (judging at 11am) where it started warming up to the 40s. The snow was very very dry and airy, but packed to perfection by Parks and Rec. They really went all out for us – not one pocket of popcorny snow or anything.

There were only two other teams. One made a big train – which was quite immpressive – but did not incorporate any negative space – and one was called “And they say there is no life on mars” which had a ball with some reliefs of animals on it. Definitely conceptual! But again – we were the only ones who put some air between the snow.

So we won. I feel great about making an awesome piece – but I would have to say the competition this year wasn’t really all that competitive. And I look forward to challenges – so…

Lake Geneva, 2010 here we come!

Brooke working through the approaching dawn.