The call - sand sculpture

I remember the days before mobile phones. Making plans to meet was always done ages ahead or time and if things didn't go to plan you had to wait till both parties were at a landline to find out what went wrong.

Growing up. We didn't have a phone and had to use the payphone in the local shop for communication. Arriving with a stack of coins at a certain time and then hoping that your friend would be at the other end waiting to take the call. Phones connected places and not people.

EB phone home

When one of my brothers emigrated to the US. There was a weekly call to a phone box near the local church. Anyone who wanted to chat with him from family to friends had to hang out during that evening until they had their moment at the receiver. The Phone box was chosen because it was secluded and my older brother could ask the operator in the US to reverse the charges to the pay phone. How was she to know it was a phonebox as we accept the charge to Telecom Eireann?

Signal to noise ratio

When I got my first mobile in around 1997 it was a revelation. I wrote a post about my mobile history Here To be able to connect with people and not just places was amazing. Back then of course it was an analogue connection which was a bit hit or miss. Trying to make sure you had the best signal as you moved around the device to the best angle.

Most calls back then had the fumble and then the holy words. 'Can you hear me now?? Well, that was the inspiration for this sculpture. You still hear it today but less often as technology becomes better.

A few posts back I had said that The Scream by Edvard Munch was my favourite painting and that project was obviously still on my mind as I created this sculpture at the Westen Supermare sand sculpture festival.

Looking at the painting I often mused that the character had a phone in their hand and was trying to hear the conversation while all around was loud.

I had been asked to create a 3 Dimensional version of a painting, like it was coming out of the frame and this idea came to me. I only had a day and a half to bring it together and so it is what it is. A sort of visual pun on the painting.

I really don't think it needs more of an explanation and was a fun little skit to do before I left the project.

My last three posts were from there and all were created over the span of 10 days.

alt

Ps

Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.