Old Man and no Sea

In 1851, the American writer, Herman Melville, penned his masterpiece Moby Dick.  It played off in the day when going after a cuddly whale with evil intension was considered cool.  The obsessive captain of a whaling ship was going all out for the white whale called Moby Dick.  His motivation was seated in a prior gruesome experience where the whale mistaken his leg for a clump of algae and bit it off, an honest mistake I would say.  Having loads of fun putting harpoons into the whale, the crew eventually got thrown off the boat and perish.  The captain had a more American ending installed for himself, he got dragged to sea into the sunset.  Years later, we end up with a single riddle regarding the remains of the episode; “what is big, blue, weighs half a ton and lies at the bottom of the ocean?”  You’ll never guess it.  It’s Moby’s dick.  There you go that’s the way the story really ends.  This progressed swiftly into a weird direction. 

Just 100 years later, fishing was still an elite way to kill time, and some innocent sea creature in the process.  Ernest Hemmingway wrote the story and of the “Old Man and the Sea”.  The Cuban fisherman contracted the worst form of unlucky by going 84 days without a fish.  He went out to sea with no companion; who wants to waste time with a no-fisherman at sea.  Luck turned, or did it, as he hooked a big one.  It does not take long before you wonder who caught whom as the sea creature took the old man and his little boat on a tour of the ocean for two days.  On day three, the old man mustered the energy to kill the fish and tied it to the boat.  He could not believe his luck, and then a couple of sharks came to devour his prize, leaving him with nothing, again.

As a youngster I read condensed books on both of these works, and neither was much longer than my effort in summary.  Since I did not get myself tied up in the sea of words, later in life, both these stories merged into one.  In my version, the old man goes after Moby and eventually gets him the way Hemmingway described.  I built an image of the unified monster killer in my mind and did not do much with the image until recently.

In 2017, I developed the urge to make the odd sculpture, and my finest possession by my own hand is the “Old Man”; no sea close by and Moby’s dick safe in the deep.  I made some beauties too; they were not as much fun.

To make a face out of clay is actually quite easy.  Plonk down a lump of clay and start working it, aiming for the image in mind.  Some gentle pressing and soon the eyes, nose chin and cheekbones appear.  Apart from some finishing touches, you are basically done.  I have no formal education in this craft, so, it is all about touch.  Since I am a fairly observant fellow, I have noticed that some things come in certain proportions and specific locations to make up a face that looks acceptable to an audience.

Unlike Picasso, who cannot be bothered to express a normal face and ended up with ears and noses all over the show, I actually know where a nose should go.  Also, Mr. Picasso, the ears go on the sides of the head, and one on each side before you get clever on me.

The eyes and ears present a problem in clay; they are quite difficult if you are impatient because it is delicate work.  I normally leave them for the second evening when the piece gets finished off.  The clay is a bit drier and it allows addition of more fine details and the delicate touches.  Finally, the working lines and marks requires masking with a bit of texture, out comes an old piece of sponge and water.

What I love about worn down faces are that there is character to explore.  It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to add wrinkles by making a rough cut in the clay and then smoothing it out with a wet brush.  It is very cool to see the transformation of an otherwise ugly lump of clay into a recognizable face.  Well, he was the third head I made, and in my view, I got the proportions quite well.  Some excess skin and aggressive wrinkles presents the character expected of a fellow at sea for endless periods.  You be the judge, beware; he is quite a mean old dude; he did after all kill for fun.

It takes me about 3 hours to get one head done.  Best way I can describe the experience; it is like a meditation session on steroids, full concentration on a single task.  I do not make a specific person, just throw it together from what comes to mind, no picture, nothing.  It is almost like the clay knows what it wants to be, I just lend a little hand.  As I got more adventurous, I tried different expressions and the “Old Lady”, which is another one I like.  Suppose Mr. Grumpy had to go back home to someone.

I really have no idea why I make them, or what they should be presenting, just a bit of fun I suppose.  One is allowed a bit of fun in life, or not so?  Maybe a creative outlet for a stressed out engineer.

Hemmingway has his Old Man and the Sea, Melville’s Moby is long gone, I have my old man with no sea, and Picasso has no clue.  With that, Picasso is acknowledged as the modern artist; what a strange world of recognition we live in.

Wednesday, 14 November 2018