Randy Shull acknowledges that a new 22-foot statue of himself may appear self-centered. But he insists the goal is to magnify his father’s work.
“It’s really about my father. It’s not about me,” Shull said. “It’s taking his work and amplifying it. I just happen to be the choice image.”
The 800-pound fiberglass figure is a larger-than-life spin on a wooden figurine that his father, Don Shull, carved three decades ago. In the original piece, which is about a foot tall, Randy Shull is captured as a young artist, with a pencil in his mouth, paint-stained pants, holding a paintbrush in one hand and a hammer in the other.
“I feel like that's a really good representation of myself, kind of divided,” Shull said. “I feel part carpenter, part artist, part creative, part practical.”
The statue — titled “Augmented Man” — now lives at 22 London art studio in Biltmore Village. The piece has a formal unveiling on Saturday, June 20 as part of a larger tribute to Don Shull’s life as a carpenter and artist. The exhibit, titled “Don Shull: Not For Sale,” features 14 of his original wood carvings, including representations of a devil, a grandmother and Albert Einstein.
The dramatic scale of “Augmented Man” is a playful departure from his father’s approach. While the now 92 year-old Don Shull spent much of his life building houses in the Midwest, he pursued creativity in his own way when he began making whimsical wood carvings, Randy said.
“I think he has a creative streak regardless of whether or not there’s an audience. And I just love that,” he said. “He likes to only give them away. He never sells his art.”
Randy Shull, in contrast, has no problem listing his work for sale. And he runs towards large-scale, conceptual works, rather than the smaller, detail-oriented carvings his father makes by hand.
“I’m much more intuitive and impatient,” he said. “I need a large format. It really becomes an experience — a performative experience. And it’s also like an experience for the viewer. They really become immersed in the work.”
Still, Shull said his dad’s work pushes him to reconsider his own.
It serves as a reminder of “what it is to be creative, what it is to come in and, on a daily basis, be an artist,” Shull said. “I feel challenged by this piece, and I now need to live up to its presence.”
