{"id":31750,"date":"2019-11-28T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=31750"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:53","slug":"inspiration-doesnt-come-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/showcase\/2019\/11\/inspiration-doesnt-come-easy.html","title":{"rendered":"Inspiration Doesn’t Come Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2015 I embarked on one of the craziest road trips you can imagine. Darla and I took a 2016 Dodge SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Viper ACR and drove it from Detroit to Las Vegas and back. It was an epic journey through rain and snow and mountains and desert in a hard core \u201cstreet\u201d car built to snatch souls and destroy track records. It\u2019s an adventure I\u2019ll never forget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That car sunk its fangs into me and 4 years\nlater it has yet to let go. Obviously it\u2019s wickedly quick with copious amounts\nof power and a wild look, but it\u2019s more than that and more than the sum of its\nparts. It\u2019s a throwback to the days gone by where engineers didn\u2019t have to\nworry about trivial things like how much noise it made or how harsh the ride\nwas or the smoothness of a shift or if you could see behind you or if your golf\nclubs fit in the trunk. It\u2019s definitely not everyone\u2019s bag, but it is mine.\nIt\u2019s a vicious machine with a blackened heart as enticing as it is frightening;\nyou might enter the cockpit as Arthur Fleck, but by the end of your first mile\nyou\u2019ve become the Joker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As an artist, inspiration is a funny thing. It\nis the one factor that turns nothing into something special that I have yet to\nfully understand. Creativity is just problem solving. Skill is earned with\ntalent honed by hard work. The vision is knowing the end in your mind\u2019s eye and\nusing skill and creativity to reach that end. Inspiration however, it comes and\ngoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s something I never really had to worry about.\nIt was always just there, stirring up my imagination and pushing me to create\nand to evolve. Then all of a sudden, it was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There were some extenuating circumstances at\nplay. Arm surgeries, multiple car thefts, a shop robbery, a spinal cord\nimplant, a move, etc. In addition to all of that, I\u2019m doing more writing now\nand of course there\u2019s the day job. Mostly, I think I just got tired both physically\nand mentally. I\u2019ve never been one to just go through the motions and I didn\u2019t\nfeel like I had anything new to say through my art. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year from 2012 to 2017 I\u2019d driven to\nVegas for the SEMA show to display my sculptures in the event\u2019s Art Walk. Last\nyear I skipped the show, partially due to a schedule conflict, but mostly\nbecause I didn\u2019t really have much to display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After taking a year off from the show in 2018,\nI decided to return this year. That meant I needed to start and finish a\nsculpture (or three) for the first time since 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the implant procedure, time was of the\nessence. I didn\u2019t get cleared for work until a month before the show; the \u201cSEMA\ncrunch\u201d is real and not just for hot rod and custom car builders. I felt the\npressure to get stuff done while trying something new and figured I\u2019d finally\nscratch an itch that had been bugging me for a while. The ACR sculpture had to\nhappen. With inspiration from my end lacking, I needed to tackle a subject that\nembodies that idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It didn\u2019t take long for that fire inside of me\nto ignite again. I drew out some basic proportions on my workbench and began\nputting the Viper\u2019s basic shape together. However, it was the ACR hood that\nstoked the flames. With every sculpture there\u2019s that \u201caha!\u201d moment. Sometimes\nit\u2019s immediate and other times it\u2019s not until the piece is done, but for this\nsculpture the \u201caha\u201d moment was while working on the hood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The excitement was back and I couldn\u2019t wait to\nfinish it. The proportions were challenging because if you stick to a strict\nscale the thing just doesn\u2019t look quite right. I learned a long time ago that when\nit comes to art if it looks right, it\u2019s right. I experimented for a bit with\nusing pieces of old painted scrap metal to give the Viper\u2019s body color. But in\nthe end I used raw metal, mixing in stainless steel, mild steel, silicon bronze\nand aluminum bronze. The materials are compatible to an extent and the\ndifferent properties react uniquely through the welding process. The colors are\nactually oxides that form when the metal is exposed to the atmosphere at\ndifferent temperatures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The base of the sculpture was inspired by Road\nAtlanta. The track tailing off into the distance mimics what you see when\nlooking from a certain angle. The trick with sculptures, for me, is the\nillusion of detail. It\u2019s not a model or a replica, it\u2019s my interpretation of\nthe object. I try to find the features that make the subject special. The rear\nstrakes, the x-wing, the double bubble roof, the brake duct opening on the\nfront fenders, the crosshair grill. The goal is to give the viewer enough so\nthat their mind fills in the rest. It\u2019s unique to each person who views it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ACR sculpture was a big hit at SEMA and\nit\u2019s going to a deserving home! My good friend Ralph Gilles purchased it. For\nthose of you who aren\u2019t familiar with Ralph, he is the current head of Global\nDesign for FCA and former boss of Dodge and SRT. He is a huge reason SRT is the\nsoulful, successful brand it is today. It\u2019s a pretty sweet feeling and\ndefinitely a sort of validation to have someone of his stature like it enough\nto want to own and display it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life\u2019s frustrations can definitely become\noverwhelming. But there is a quote from one of my favorite philosophers that\nsticks with me and helps me understand that maybe these struggles are\nnecessary: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.\u201d
\u2015 Friedrich Nietzsche <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bring it on, life. I eat chaos for breakfast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n