While we’ve focused on the some of the more spatial aspects of Nomadic Studio, I’d like to spend today and tomorrow talking about a couple of the large-scale artworks that we had in the Main Gallery. Up first is artist and educator Dayton Castleman’s massive work “Chicken”. Quick note: Dayton ended up re-christening it “Starcross’d Lovers” down the road, but while it was within the confines of Nomadic, it was still called “Chicken” in the program.
This full-scale Canadian Goose facing off against a half-scale F-16 Falcon in a game of chicken took up over 25 feet of wall length and over 11 feet of wingspan. It was made from corrugated cardboard, wood and foam, and took a small army of us to mount on the wall. You really gotta see it in person, but like most of Dayton’s outsized artworks, you gotta see those in person, too.
We didn’t know Dayton Castleman before the exhibit, and had hopefully requested his work because we were fans, but all became fast friends. Affable, excited and inspiring, he’s a righteous dude making striking and memorable work. Dayton’s Falcon and Goose stayed with us for the first several months before flying off to another install spot. However, we’ll for certain revisit this work next month when we talk about how we helped Rob Funderburk paint a mural underneath it.
’Til tomorrow,
Faiz
