Bust made from cow dung.

[Brendon Tohill]

On the tv news here in New Zealand a sculptor Sam Mahon has made a bust of the minister of the enviroment using cow dung to protest his plans to dam one of the big south island rivers.
He made a bust in clay then made a mould of this in section and then pushed a mixture of dung and bees wax (I cant remember what else) then somehow has put the peices together.
The finished piece looks great and can be seen on trademe.co.nz.
They interveiwed the minister who was very unimpressed.

[craigktx]

Does it smell as bad as the logic does?

[evaldart]

I dont imagine it will be durable enugh to maintain as a proper artifact...but maybe thats okay. Because if the reason for the thing was just to annoy a politician, there was no Art involved anyways.

[mantrid]

Heres the link. The questions and answers are quite interesting too.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Art/Carving...-250472279.htm

[GHarrison]

It's excellent. Very nice title, and well crafted. I would imagine politicians carved out of giant blocks of soap...

To those calling it not art or not durable... It's communicative, like old political cartoons, or Marc Quinn's self portrait in his own frozen blood. As for durability, have you ever seen Degas waxes still preserved, Joseph Beuys works in fat and cardboard preserved....

[The Forge]

That is a very appropriate medium to use for politicians.

[racine]

well u can polish a turd after all

[evaldart]

After Ofili, dung has been embraced as an art material. It only had any rebel-rouser value that first time...now its simply a bad material choice.

[grommet]

Originally Posted by evaldart

After Ofili, dung has been embraced as an art material. It only had any rebel-rouser value that first time...now its simply a bad material choice.

I don't think it's a bad material choice, its cleverness is on par with a knock-knock joke. Now its usefulness is in its inherent properties. They've already come out with "poo pets" to put in your garden as a time-release fertilizer, so you'll have to do better than that in utilizing its strengths.

[evaldart]

I know an artist who makes figurative planters out of some purposely deteriorating mud concoction. They do look nice for a while, I guess...all rough and earthy. He sells them like hotcakes spring and summer...earns a good living, and likes to make them too. Who's to say what a "good" material and what isnt?.

[Brendon Tohill]

Sam Mahon the sculptor of this bust has written some books one of which I found inspirational to read as I had not long started bronze casting.
Its title is Year of the Horse and is about his struggle to bring to completion a life size bronze of a horse and rider for the Speights Beer brewery.
Its about the struggle against unreasonable time limits, his furnace breaks down and he makes a new one fron river clay and cow dung and chronicles the whole process of the project.

[grommet]

nature's cement?

[craigktx]

Originally Posted by grommet

nature's cement?

If your a long hair vegan.

Life to short to find all the uses of BS.