Houston sculptor preparing massive Obama bust

[sonias]

Houston Chronicle 1/17/09
Houston sculptor preparing massive Obama bust

By MONICA RHOR Associated Press Write
Jan. 17, 2009

HOUSTON — As Barack Obama considers the pantheon of larger-than-life presidents who came before him, David Adickes pauses to consider Barack Obama.

(snip)
The bust is the first step in plans for a replica of Obama's head to join dozens of other presidential busts the size of two-story buildings sitting behind a chain-link fence in the parking lot and camped in rows inside the vast studio space in an industrial part of Houston.

They are the faces of American history past and present. On the table, the unfolding countenance of the 44th president. In the lot outside, looming 18 to 20-feet tall, the supersized sculptures of Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln.

The enormous statues, created by Adickes using a painstaking technique of layered concrete and steel, will line a winding waterway at the planned Presidential Park and Gardens at Waterlights, an 18-acre mixed-use development in Pearland, a suburb just south of Houston.

Cool!:bounce::bounce:

I was hoping to find an image of the statute but I didn't find one. I did find a picture of the sculptor though at this link plus a great quote from him

WOAI 1/17/09
Barack Obama is a Bust in the Hands of a Houston Sculptor
(snip)
The Obama piece also marks the first time Adickes has started a statue before the president depicted has been sworn in. His George W. Bush piece was produced just after the 43rd president's first inauguration day.

In contrast to the public fascination with Obama, "there was no interest in W," says Adickes, as he leads a visitor through the rows of presidential sculptures inside his studio. It is a surreal sight.

Adickes, a slight man who turns 82 the day before Obama is inaugurated, is dwarfed by his own creations. He walks past an oversized set of shoulders adorned by giant epaulets. They belong to Andrew Jackson. Another set of shoulders featuring a finely detailed tie will be joined to FDR's head.

There still isn't any interest in "W"! Good riddance! :evilgrin:


Sonia

[tbyg52]

1. Cool.

The Sam Houston statue scares me every time I drive north on 45 - at a certain spot, it looks *just* like a pedestrian in the middle of the highway....!