Description of work: “Mantis Dreaming” is a sculpture of a preying mantis with a butterfly on his claw. Made from discarded metal, with the majority being from an old rail road car tanker, and weighs 3,000 lbs.
All created freehand by myself over the last 6 months. I envisioned this sculpture while listening to a song by a group called The Verve.
Catching that butterfly in that dream of mine were the words that inspired the sculpture. I imagined a praying mantis might have that dream, his opposite, the butterfly, beautiful, delicate, and always out of reach. He is so infatuated with it, when the butterfly lands on him he stands frozen. His instincts clash with his fascination, all he can do is hope it doesn’t fly away.
We all have a butterfly we want to catch,
or a golden ring to grab.
We are consumed by the chase.
We catch it but then what.
I hope you enjoy it,
and most of all I hope you catch your butterfly. |