The Base:
The wood base measures 24 inches in circumference and the piece is 26 inches high.
The Figure:
The figure is made entirely out of Bondo. All parts including the face were sculpted in clay then silicone molds were made and castings were connected together and sanded to smoothness. The universe is also made of Bondo. The CMB (inside) was done by dabbing different colors on the inner white surface with a sponge. The cosmic web (outside) was hand painted with color-shifting ink. The galaxies were done with a silver paint marker.
The Subject:
Life first developed on earth 3.7 billion years ago. Homo Sapiens evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago. Human civilization began with black people, so it only makes sense to depict humanity as black. Human beings are from the earth and have lived in all the harsh conditions that earth has had to offer: Humans are surrounded by life as depicted by the mountains and by destruction as depicted by the volcanoes. Water makes life on earth possible so it is depicted as the central element that humans are connected to. There is a larger meaning of life however. We are from the earth but OF the universe. The connection that all humans share is not figurative but fundamentally real. The universe is 13.8 billion years old; it is depicted as a sphere with the Cosmic Microwave Background on the inside (the first visible light left as an imprint on the entire universe) and the outside as all the galaxies joined together on the framework of the cosmic web (depicted in purple). All human beings are joined together in spirit just as the cosmos is interconnected through the cosmic web. The boy is seen connected to the cosmos by his right hand which has symbolic significance as eternal life, power and peace. He is facing you and pointing to you with his left hand: all of us are equally connected in the same way as he is. He and all of us are from the earth but we are also joined together and part of the infinite “plan” that we cannot know while “bound to the earth”, but even while we are bound to the earth we still always have a inextricable connection to the greater eternity of the universe and our interconnected souls. Materials: Bondo, wood, Delco Ceramcoat acrylic paint and the lava is small tree “branches” covered in Bondo and painted. The Mountains and volcanoes were first sculpted in high density foam then covered in Bondo.
