sticks and stones

i had the pleasure of attending one of the best and most interesting installations i've ever seen a week or so ago. it's dubbed the 'stick stack show' and is the brainchild of Charleston-born  artist Jonathan Brilliant. it's huge. it's so complex. it creates the most beautiful shadows. it took him about 12 hours a day everyday for two weeks to put it together. it is different everytime it moves from gallery to gallery since each gallery is a different layout, amount of space, height of ceilings, etc. it's amazingly big. in the Richmond Visual Arts Center, it takes up a very large room, and accompanying pieces of his are in and around the rooms/halls surrounding the main installation. here's the most amazing part:

the piece is made of 7" wooden coffee stirrers. also, there's zero glue. they're woven together.

and here's a picture of my friend noma for scale and posterity. i told you it was huge. and it extends even more than ten feet higher than noma's head below. my camera just isn't big enough. you can walk under it, inside of it, it's astounding.

it's truly a wonderful show. the rest of the pieces are also made out of coffee cup sleeves, lids, straws, you name it. it's a traveling show, too. it leaves late december - and much like set strike, they're having a strike for the installation come time for it to leave. i can't wait to go help break down this thing.. it's should be interesitng.

--