Randall Rosenthal is a sculptor from New York, and following an email from IOC member David Winson FIOC, I contacted Randall to see if we could reproduce the ‘article’ and am delighted that he gave his permission and that I can now share this with you.
So this is a cardboard box full of dollar bills yes? No actually, it’s not and these pictures show how three simple pieces of white pine were transformed in 70 days!
On January 15th 2011, Randall glued together three pieces of white pine and the next day, began to mark out the design on the block.
Next he was ready to start whittling down the block…
As Randall said “I get a little frenzied in the beginning. I can see it in my head and want to make it appear in real life. My tools are so sharp I don’t know I nicked myself till I notice the blood on the sculpture…..”
By the end of the first week, Randall’s update said “starting to under cut. This is significant because there is no going back. No way to lower the flap on top for instance. I also changed the configuration in the box and starting to play around with the corrugation”.
Randall was asked on his blog, how he works out the depth to carve to and said “I see it in my mind and rather than try and make a few big cuts I make a lot of little cuts… However I do it fast. One thing I do is make everything slightly larger than I really think it should be. Later I will trim back and it will give it a look of complexity. Its more about tenacity than anything else.”
At this point, he’d had enough of carving and turned his hand to painting instead.
Asked about how he does the painting, Randall said “first I mix a lot of the background colour so I can tune up the painting every step of the way. I draw it on in pencil and then use a “micron” brand felt tip pen with archival ink. Then I use the finest brush I can find with carbon black acrylic. Then I do the colour. The 50’s have far more colour and present a greater challenge. I finish with washes of carbon black. The green sides are done entirely with brushes as there is no pen I’ve found yet that’s close to the right colour and thin enough to be useful. Unlike carving I can keep adding paint forever until I’m satisfied.”
What makes all of this even more incredible is that a few years previously, Randall had been in a serious accident and shattered his right hand and wrist. As Randall said “God gave me an incredible gift but he took half of it back. Since then I have learned it is far more about imagination and tenacity than physical talent. I used to have the steadiest hand possible….Now not so much. I used to do the bills by drawing and painting over a background colour with no mistakes. Now they are little paintings where the background colour is re-applied until it looks right – sometimes many layers to do what I could once do on the first try. The carving is all about tenacity and a willingness to just go for it.”
With our grateful thanks to Randall Rosenthal for his permission to write this article. All photos and comments taken from www.sawmillcreek.org and posted by Randall himself.
This article first appeared in the March 2014 issue of Cutting Edge. As part of the IOC membership, IOC members receive quarterly editions of Cutting Edge magazine and access to all back issues online.
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