The Incredible Crayola Sculptures Even the White House Couldn't Ignore

By Liat Clark, Wired U.K. The White House commissioned Herb Williams to build a sculpture out of Crayola crayons. Our sister publication Wired.co.uk caught up with him to discuss his work. When Nashville artist Herb Williams played with crayons, it bothered him more than some when the nibs became dulled and the colors appeared disappointingly […]
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Profile Equalizer, a Crayola sculpture by Herb Williams, explores social networking.
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By Liat Clark, Wired U.K.

The White House commissioned Herb Williams to build a sculpture out of Crayola crayons. Our sister publication Wired.co.uk caught up with him to discuss his work.

When Nashville artist Herb Williams played with crayons, it bothered him more than some when the nibs became dulled and the colors appeared disappointingly muted on paper. Rather than moving on from this childhood disillusionment, he decided to do something about it. The results -- huge, vibrant sculptures made from hundreds of thousands of Crayolas -- prove a childhood obsession can breed interesting results.

Gallery Marilyn Monroe, Man in Black and Other Crayola Sculptures

"To most adults, the sight and smell of crayons produce specific memories of childhood," says former construction worker Williams. "The twist in the road to nostalgia is the creation of a new object, from a medium in which it was not intended."

Objects, icons and stories are played out in startling proportions -- the crayons uniformly nestled together to deliver an instant shock of pure color. Williams cuts each one to size using a double guillotine cigar cutter before bonding them to a sculpted form. He says the medium gave him new freedom to explore adult themes in a nonthreatening way (such as a nude Marilyn Monroe piece) and, in doing so, create fine art that would be as accessible for gallery regulars as for the untutored art fan.

"The playful aspect of my medium is integral to the works of art I'm creating. I can subversively insert a concept that may bloom well after the initial recognition of the form as a familiar children's implement," he said.

With Plunderland, which exhibited earlier this month at the RARE gallery in New York, he created a fairytale-style installation that disguises themes of greed (see our photo gallery below for Williams' analysis). Profile Equalizer, pictured above, questions the "loss of individuality" that can sometimes be caused by social networking sites like Facebook.

The sculptures have appeared in children's hospitals and museums across the United States, and Williams was even commissioned by the White House to create small-scale sculptures.

President Barack Obama obviously appreciates it takes a special individual (in fact there's only one in the world) to have a personal account with Crayola.

If that didn't win him over, the president had to be defeated by Williams' somewhat refreshing mission statement: "My intent is to continue to seriously create art that looks at itself unseriously."

Check out Wired.co.uk's gallery of Crayola sculptures to take a closer look at some of Williams' work, with selected comments from the artist himself.