The description I submitted:
“It is a small sculpture, height and length is unknown, but it looks like it could easily be griped in one hand. It is a man holding a club over his bowed head, like he is in the process of swinging it forward. The figure is not a detailed human form, but looks more like the Pillsbury doughboy in shape and has very basic features. Its torso is slightly more bell bottomed then the doughboy and its limbs more pointed at the tips. From the side view, its thick torso is leaned toward the right, like the back is bowed. Attached to its bell bottom torso is its short legs, about the same proportion and look as the doughboy’s, with one out stretched in front and one in the back like it is mid stride. It has no knee joints as the legs are smooth rectangular shapes with pointed tips at the feet, and the leg as a whole is not as round as the doughboy’s, they are a little flatter like an oval. Its arms almost look like they are facing the wrong way, stretching up towards the left of the figure whereas the torso leans right. This makes it looking like the club it is holding is too heavy for it and it is having trouble getting the momentum to swing it overhead. Again, proportion wise and in shape the arms are similar to the doughboy. The only marked difference is that where they connect to the body the base of the arm widens and flattens into the torso. The arms become more rounded and oval in width near the hands, but are still flatter then the doughboy’s. Again, there are no joints, the arms are smooth. The hands have no fingers, only a small thumb. In its hands, it grips the club at its base with the hands holding it at the same place, causing them to connect. The club is about the same length of the torso, and has some detail to make it look like wood. Whereas the rest of the figure is smooth, the club has small wavy lines cut into it to resemble bark, and has three little nubs coming out of it like cut tree branches. The three nubs are near the tip if the club. The angle the club is held at is about the same angle of the bowed back, it does not droop. As for the head, it has no neck and the curve of the back is continued till it levels at the head. The head looks like a tea candle on its side that has been squished a little so it’s not so round, with the bottom connected to the leaning torso. The figure appears to be wearing a hood, where the end of a tea candles metal base would end, there is an indent. The face is simple, from the hood indent there is a small dome that does not protrude too far. On the center of this dome is a hooked nose, it looks like a shark fin, but does not protrude as far out as one. These simple features make up the face.
All the connections and edges of the pieces are smooth. This is due in part to how it is made. The artist started by bending a strong wire into the base of the torso and legs, and arms. Then they filled in the thickness of the torso with papier mache. Their process for papier mache is as follows: they make the pulp by ripping a newspaper into strips, soaking it in a bucket of water until broken down, then straining it. Then they mix it with a potato-flour glue, which is a little flour in a saucepan of water that is gradually heated until viscous and clear. Next, they sculpted the rough form of the figure with air-drying clay. After it was dry they further shaped it with knives and sandpaper. It still remains smooth and soft in form, but this technique of carving made some more defined angles. The legs and arms look like softened geometric shapes, as the edges and connections are smooth, but you can still see that the arms look a little like flattened rectangles and the legs have triangular structure and edges. Finally, they painted a few layers of acrylic paint to give it a stony appearance. The stone it looks like is that blue/black/grey stone that some fired pottery looks like. It has bits of oranges, yellows and a little green in there, like they painted those colors on then sanded most of them off leaving only bits. In fact, the surface is scratched like they did sand it. This may be due to their final step of rubbing back with a damp cloth before the paint has cured to make the natural-looking surface.”
The description I received:
“The structure starts off with a white rectangular base that is divided into three sections that form a rectangle when they are put together side by side. The base seems to be made from wood and is pure white. Each section has a 15” width, 9.5” height, and 15” length forming a box. Overall, the base consists of three boxes pressed up against each other to form a rectangular base. On top of the base, there are two pieces of luggage that do not look like traditional traveling luggage. Instead, the pieces have no curves and are very geometric and are made from metal and black. The first piece of luggage somewhat resembles a large handbag that is located on the left of the base with a pentagonal shape on the sides. The bottom of the handbag is a rectangle that measures to be 7.5”x13” inches with three luggage wheels below forming a triangle. Two wheels are located on the left side that is 7.5” inches and the third is located in the middle of the rectangle. Next, on each of the 13.5” sides of the rectangle there will be a piece that is 14”x13.5” standing up right that is connected to the rectangle bottom of the handbag. Connect these pieces to form an incomplete box that looks like a capital U from the side. Make two other pieces that are 6”x13.5” inches and connect them to the tops of the 14”x13.5” pieces and fold them to make a roof. The empty spaces on the left and right side of the structure should look like an elongated pentagon. Afterwards, measure and cut out a piece that will fit into the empty pentagon spaces, and that nothing should be curved. Lastly, there is a semi-circle handle attached to the top of the handbag with a diameter of 13.5” inches, so the highest point of the handle would be 6.75” inches. Connect the handle at the point where the 6”x13.5” pieces come together that makes the point of the pentagon. Place the finished structure where its 7.5” inch side is parallel to the 15” inch length of the base towards the left side. The second structure resembles a carry-on luggage and is located on the right side of the rectangular base. The luggage starts off with a rectangle bottom that is 13”x6” inches. Below the rectangle, there will be two luggage wheels that are both placed two inches from the 6” inch sides of the rectangle piece. Make two pieces that are 13”x28.5” inches and connect it to the rectangle bottom to form the sides of the luggage and again making a capital “U” shape. Then make two pieces that are 13”x3” and connect them to the top of the 13”28.5” pieces and fold them together to make a roof. Measure the empty spaces that are located on the 6” inch sides of the bottom rectangle and cut pieces to fit the pentagon space accordingly. On top of the structure is a square handle. To make it, measure and cut two pieces that are 7”x1.5” and one piece that is 9.5”x1.5.” Connect the 7”x1.5” pieces to either side of the 9.5”x1.5” piece to form a frame with one side missing. Put the luggage on top of the base where its 13” side is parallel to the 15” inch length of the base on the right side. Lastly, put the handle on the top of right side of the “roof” on the structure. Now, there is a pentagon shaped box that is mounted on the front of the second structure. The base of the pentagon is five inches and the height of it is 18 inches and the slanted sides that make the point of the pentagon are five inches, and there is a rectangle bottom that is 5”x3.” Two rectangle pieces will be 14”x3” to form the sides of the box and there will be two pieces that are 5”x3” to form the sides of the roof. Use the 14”x3” and 5”x3” pieces to connect the two pentagon pieces that are base 5” and height 18” together to complete the box. Also, there will be one wheel on the bottom of the 5”x3” rectangle and centered. Mount the completed structure to the front side of the carryon luggage structure that does not have the handle and should be in-between the handbag and the carryon luggage.”
