This Friday we are having an unveiling party for the Miracle of Hope paintings. I've been painting professionally for a couple years. Before that I was a sculptor for a couple decades. Elephant Graveyard is the sculpting equivalent to the Miracle of Hope paintings: both of them are more than decorative artwork, they both carry a social message. What you see here is a steel reinforced concrete facsimile of African elephant skeletons that have been poached. The skulls have had the tusks chain-sawed off. The assemblage carries an anti-poaching message and perhaps some of the folks who have seen it over the years at the New Orleans zoo will think twice about buying products made from elephant ivory or support conservation efforts in some way. While the subject matter for the Miracle of Hope paintings is radically different than Elephant Graveyard I think both carry a positive message and I had the same feeling after completing either project.
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