Former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is going "stove."
A couple years ago, Chicago artist J. Taylor Wallace immortalized Palin in the form of a large metal sculpture that doubles as a functional cooker as part of an exhibit for the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN.
The sculpture now has a new home, taking up residence at the Bridgeport Art Center for the rest of the year. To commemorate the opening of the Bridgeport Sculpture Garden on April 20th, the sculpture will cook a suckling pig at the opening ceremony.
And in case you're thinking there was a political message behind Wallace's inspiration for the project -- you'd be right.
"It was kind of in response to the political climate at that time, when the health care debate was going on," Wallace says. "I thought she was a distraction from what was important, and it was cathartic to spend three months doing it... it helped me out a lot."
It's also not a coincidence that the smoke comes out the top of the sculpture's head to make it look like she's fuming.
Wallace, who specializes in 3-D mixed media art, offered to accompany the Palin entourage and do all the cooking with the sculpture during her book tour, but for some reason he never heard back.
"It's pretty amazing when I mount it to the top of my trailer. I've almost caused pileups on the interstate with people trying to take pictures," Wallace said. "Ultimately, I wanted to get people to start talking about issues that weren't being talked about."
Think he's succeeded? You 'betcha!
