Triceracopter: The Hope for the Obsolescence of War
"I was drawn to the triceratops as a form—the horns, huge head, and massive rill. Also, it had a highly developed defense system. It was one of the last dinosaurs to become extinct. The helicopter also has a special history. It is a U.S. Army OH-6A Cayuse. In the Vietnam War, the Cayuse often served as a weapon of attack, drawing enemy fire at night. The tracers were like bait, providing jet fighters with a target to hit. I wanted people to sense the combined force of biological and technological weaponry. The visual metaphor may be strange, but it seemed to resonate with people on both sides of the ideological struggles about that war. It took over a year to get the project going, but people were willing to help. The Army shipped the helicopter cross-country. It was damaged, so I had to reconstruct the airframe in fiberglass. I got some missing parts from the National Guard. I found a loft where the owner only charged me for utilities.“ - Patricia A. Renick
 |
| Portrait of the artist, Patricia Renick. |
 |
| Renick working doing a sketch of what soon will be. |
 |
| The sculpting stage. |
 |
| The fiberglass stage. |
 |
| Triceracopter, 1976. Fiberglass and salvaged OH-6A Cayuse helicopter, 13 x 10 x 30 ft |
 |
| the texture on the face was cast from the cracked, dried-out tar roof on her studio. |
I was transfixed by this sculpture the first time that I saw it. I was in Kindergarten and looking through a book of some sort.( I really wish I could remember what book it was.) It stuck with me for years and years, but like all memories, they fade back into the furthest parts of your mind and lay dormant, waiting on a specific, random, thing that will make you remember it. I wish I could tell you that I had some epiphany or had a dream where the Triceracopter descended down from the firmament before my very eyes, and while hovering with it's main rotor, it began to graze on the grass beneath it. I honestly can't recall why I thought of this big guy. I guess it was like all the other things in my brain. I never know what will come up and say, "Hey! Remember me? I'm your knowledge of what kind of shoe Mr. Rogers wore. (He wore Topsiders, if you were curious."
Hearing that the actual body of the dinosaur was a U.S. Army OH-6A Cayuse struck a chord with me when I was a kid. I didn't know why at first. But then I did some digging around and found out that the civilian version of the Cayuse is the MD 500. And that doesn't ring a bell in your memory banks, then perhaps this picture will help.
 |
| T.C.'s MD 500 from the TV show, Magnum P.I. |
We really just care about the finished product and how it ensnares our imagination. When you get older though, you start to go back and do some digging around on that one artist that painted your favorite pictures on a toy package, or the designer that made the spaceship that stole your heart. And that's pretty much what I did. I did some looking around and found out more about this woman.
Pat Renick was born in Florida in 1932, in her 20's she was led to believe that she had suffered a psychotic break and was given Electro Convulsion Therapy. This action seemed to make all rational thought and memories disintegrate right as she tried to recall simple things. They'd scurry away like a frightened bird. Against her Doctors will, she released herself from their care. The warned that she'd surely commit suicide. It wasn't until later that a friend and future lover explained to her that not only was she sane, but she had suffered from the effects of a popular diet pill back then called, " dextroamphetamine sulfate", also known as speed. She slowly regained her faculties back and her self confidence and traveled abroad for a while before coming back to states and attended Ohio State University. Where she came up with the idea of the Triceracopter. Later she taught at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) from 1970 until retiring in 2001. Renick was a strong willed woman, a feminist and a lesbian. And I feel the same way that I did when I was a kid about her. Her art speaks to me and tells me about who she was. She could have turned out to be a 50ft cephalopod that fed on the spinal fluid of blue whales and I wouldn't care. Because she made something that I still hold dear to my heart, and maybe, just maybe. I will get to see the big green brute with my own eyes someday.
I'll end this post with another quote by Renick, "Don’t think about the inability to do something or the liability of doing something out here. Make it inside. Make it in your mind. Think about it. Dream about it. And that’s how you’re going to find a solution."
Here below are some links to more about Pat and her creation.
1 comment:
What a strange--but strong--concept. Great to see pictures of this huge project taking form. Thanks for sharing!
Post a Comment