Where the hell did the idea for a gigantic upsidedown man come from??
Having seen the Pier Walk show in '98, I knew figurative work was in short, if no, supply. I also wanted to do something light-hearted. To come up with a huge (each piece is supposed to be at least 10 feet tall) and fun, approachable piece, was not easy to resolve.
Then one morning while doing my usual Nietzsche-on-the-john routine, I struck it rich. Here is what I read:
17
All good things approach their goal crookedly. Like
cats, they arch their backs, they purr inwardly over their
approaching happiness: all good things laugh.
A man’s stride betrays whether he has found his
own way: behold me walking! But whoever approaches
his goal dances. And verily, I have not become a statue:
I do not yet stand there, stiff, stupid, stony, a column;
I love to run swiftly. And though there are swamps and
thick melancholy on earth, whoever has light feet runs
even over mud and dances as on swept ice.
Lift up your hearts, my brothers, high, higher! And
do not forget your legs either. Lift up your legs too,
you good dancers; and better yet, stand on your heads!
Zarathustra was right! I had been working on a moody, caryatid figure in my studio. He was a 1000 pound Atlas, bearing the weight of the world. But I hooked him with a strap and chain hoisted him onto his head, and burst out laughing at his wonderful, neitzschean transformation.