"old money"

[randall rosenthal]

thanks everyone for all for the comments and questions. we are almost there. its not really finished yet but tomorrow you will be up to date. the truth is i could take any of the major pieces i've ever done and work on it for the rest of my life. i can always visualize something better. i am in the annoying habit of "tuning up" older sculptures....even years later.

kevin...the lord works in mysterious ways. maybe it was just too easy before. besides the accident i'm not getting any younger.

[Deane Allinson]

Thanks Randall, You deserve a box like that for your work.
Deane

[randall rosenthal]

deane...here's hoping.

its hard to believe but the single greatest challenge for me is getting the cardboard right. its not like you can buy a tube of cardboard paint. what i do now is put on light washes of color and kind of sneak up on it till i'm happy. no one would believe how many thin coats of paint this takes.

[randall rosenthal]

[Kevin Adams]

Randall, just stunning! I don't know if you said somewhere along the way, but what's the approx size?

A fun thing to do is what I just did with my two daughters...show them the finished photos and ask "what is that?"
"A box with money in it (yawn)."
Then go to the top and show them the sequence...I actually got a "wow" out of them!

What's next on the agenda?

Thanks for sharing this.
Kevin

[randall rosenthal]

thanks kevin...well, today i carved a matchbook. took two hours.
its 14 x14 x10...the money is very close to life size.
i have a commission to do another box like this and i'll probably do some more envelopes. and then some other idea will come along. meanwhile, i'm going snowboarding for a few days. what i showed in this thread was 70 days of work with no days off!!

[David Weaver]

no one would believe how many thin coats of paint this takes.

The result is worthwhile, I think. I was fairly convinced looking at these (before this thread) that the money was carved and the box was just an old box. I've never seen anything like it. Most "famous" pop art couldn't hope to be 1/10th as good as this.

[randall rosenthal]

david..."art" is the only race where the slowest person can win. there are no rules. "craft" requires a certain amount of skill. i like walking the fence between the two. after winning "best in show" at the smithsonian craft show i wasnt invited back the next year.....there was some "no fair. not really craft" and on the other side i get a lot of "well done, but not really art".

i had a good friend and mentor named saul steinberg. he told me to "figure out what you do best and do that..everything else is banging your head against the wall". so thats what i try to do and let the chips (pun intended) fall where they may.

[Dan Hintz]

there was some "no fair. not really craft"

What did they want, spraypainted cotton balls stuck to toilet paper tubes and surrounded by craft-store ribbons?

[David Weaver]

Probably rubber band guns and yard ornament kits.

[randall rosenthal]

actually the stuff in the smithsonian craft show is generally off the chart great. really worth a look if you are near DC in mid april.

[Chuck George]

Randall, thanks for sharing this process. It is truly inspiring. You certainly have a wonderful gift and I always enjoy looking at your work. Looking forward to seeing more in the future.

Chuck

[randall rosenthal]

thanks chuck

heres an april's fool gift for me.....article came out today.
http://www.lipulse.com/art-music/art...arved-into-art

[randall rosenthal]

this week a Japanese TV station came and did an interview. they recreated "old money" and a few other kinda hokey bits.......but it was fun ....and they paid me.

[randall rosenthal]

i'm not going to rehash the whole process but here is a shot of the next box. its a commission based on the first one