A Preface to the Sculpture

Page  339 PAUL CONRAD A PREFACE TO THE SCULPTURE Sculpture was the farthest thing from my mind until 1976, but I'd done a drawing of a crucifix which incorporated the Trinity and I figured it had to be done in steel. I went off to the library to find out how to cut and weld steel and about three months later I had a finished product, weighing six-hundred pounds. It's now hanging at Marymount College, Palos Verdes. I conceived another idea for a crucifix, combining the dead and risen Christ. The concept of the dead Christ worked in steel. However, three attempts at the risen Christ in steel didn't come off. My wife, Kay, suggested bronze. About the same time I was also looking for a 14" X 14" X 8' piece of wood to do Richard Nixon in his victory pose. No wood of that size was available-I was told to go into a forest, cut down the tree, size it and wait two years for it to dry. Again, why not bronze? I didn't even know you worked in wax. I called the art store to find out what they used. Several years before, while I was signing cartoon prints at a benefit, a woman had come up to me and asked if I ever did sculpture. She gave me a card, which stayed in my wallet. The name on the card was Alf Peterson, a master founder. So I called Alf and got some more of the details and completed and had cast a living Christ-a model. I set up an armature and did Nixon. I wanted to give the view of him the delegates at the Republican conventions got-the view we all got the day he left the White House. He was followed by Jerry Brown as a guru. Brown's front teeth are important in his caricature-they're crooked-one reason he seldom smiles. Then came Ronald Reagan as the 'Gipper' of Notre Dame fame. And as the 1980 campaign goes on, it looks like he's gonna win one.. 339