"Happy" is the first of the beasts that was made to commemorate a specific pet, using it's actual bones. It started with a conversation. At one of my openings, I was talking to a couple of collectors. They told me about a pet they had once had, a cranky, mean old dachshund, named Happy. The one person who still had a great fondness for him was Gramps, who was equally ornery. One day, Gramps accidentally ran Happy over with the car. They buried Happy in the backyard.
10 years later, they were walking around the property where their old house had once stood. The bulldozers excavating the property had unearthed Happys skeleton. It was lying on the ground, perfectly intact. They decided that this dog was clearly meant to stay with them, somehow or other. So they packed him up and put it in a closet. What a perfectly bizarre, wonderful tale (to me, at least!) I told them that if they ever wanted to commission a piece from him, to let me know. A year later, I began the piece, with only the instructions, "Make something wonderful."
 | Currently listening:
Pretty in Black
By The Raveonettes
Release date: 01 August, 2005 |
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