Ship of Fools


View Process

1982-1983
Wood, Tar Paper
12' x 12' x 30'

Project Overview

There were no models or drawings of this sculpture prior to construction. The process took about one year and culminated in thirty friends coming to my studio on a Friday night to complete it. The sculpture was lifted and rolled sideways until right side up and then simply leaned against my studio wall. The rather quick process of inversion relieved the massiveness of the form and seemed to set the work in motion. Living with it for the next year revealed many of its other qualities. This “Ship of Fools” served as a model for another much larger sculpture “Conundrum,” fabricated and installed in a similar fashion on the streets of downtown Chicago.

The massive sculpture in his loft – a brilliant combination of nautical and domestic architecture- is like an arc designed for the preservation of independence.

Carter Ratcliff

Excerpted from the Catalogue Five Jerome Artists 1984