Meet Mr. Tubehead:
Photo Courtesy Auburn Parks and Events
Mr. Tubehead is a temporary art installation I recently created, as one of 6 selected artists, for the City of Auburn's Pianos on Parade annual summer art program. Mr. Tubehead invites viewers to "let their hair down (or up!), get goofy, and have lots of musical summer fun".
The inspiration for Mr. Tubehead started with a visit at the local hardware store. While wandering through the plumbing section (don't ask), I came across PVC pipe elbows (for the record, they are sewer pipes) and I loved the smoothness and curvature of the material, and the fact that certain types of elbows slot firmly into other elbows, much like building blocks, and can thus be used to create solid wavy shapes. This fact was filed away in the back of my head, and when I came across the opportunity to create an art-piano for the City of Auburn, I knew right away that:
1. I wanted to use the PVC sewer pipes in some way
2. I wanted to create a goofy looking piano to capture the spirit of goofy summer fun that the pianos are supposed to bring to their immediate environments.
Similar to the Robot Piano I created in Summer 2014, I decided this too would be an anthropomorphized creation, but this time I went back to my earliest cartooning roots, and decided to turn the piano into a black and white cartoon figure with the PVC pipes for hair. Hence the name, Mr. Tubehead.
Mr. Tubehead will be on display at 144 E Main Street, Auburn WA till Aug 10th 2015. If you are in the vicinity, be sure to check it out!
And now, here are some behind the scenes photos of the making of Mr. Tubehead:
The inspiration for Mr. Tubehead started with a visit at the local hardware store. While wandering through the plumbing section (don't ask), I came across PVC pipe elbows (for the record, they are sewer pipes) and I loved the smoothness and curvature of the material, and the fact that certain types of elbows slot firmly into other elbows, much like building blocks, and can thus be used to create solid wavy shapes. This fact was filed away in the back of my head, and when I came across the opportunity to create an art-piano for the City of Auburn, I knew right away that:
1. I wanted to use the PVC sewer pipes in some way
2. I wanted to create a goofy looking piano to capture the spirit of goofy summer fun that the pianos are supposed to bring to their immediate environments.
Similar to the Robot Piano I created in Summer 2014, I decided this too would be an anthropomorphized creation, but this time I went back to my earliest cartooning roots, and decided to turn the piano into a black and white cartoon figure with the PVC pipes for hair. Hence the name, Mr. Tubehead.
Mr. Tubehead will be on display at 144 E Main Street, Auburn WA till Aug 10th 2015. If you are in the vicinity, be sure to check it out!
And now, here are some behind the scenes photos of the making of Mr. Tubehead:
This is what the piano originally looked like.
The remote barn location where the pianos were stored
Several coats of white paint needed!
 Several trips to the hardware store ... |  ... to figure out the right combination of PVC pipes to use! |
The base of the pipes being screwed in firmly to the top.
Pipes glued on piece by piece using toxic glue that kills your brain cells. (Don't try this at home!)
Me and Mr. Tubehead!
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