presidential head

Music: The Divine Comedy: Regeneration (2001)

I trust with the above blog entry title readers were temporarily---perhaps unconsciously---reminded of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and The Starr Report. And while it is undeniably true I have a partially written essay titled "The Presidential Penis" (based on a reading of this), this post is actually about something even more interesting: random public art in Houston. It's all about the noun, y'all, not the verb.

Last weekend I was visiting with my Houston friends Mason (Macy and Jason) and caught a delightful show at Numbers (Faith & the Muse). Pre-show we were running errands and Macy asked, "have you seen the presidential heads?" Uh, no, I replied. So, right next to the Target we were heading into Macy whipped her car into an industrial area and drove into a gravel parking lot. My jaw dropped. I was suddenly surrounded by dozens of giant, concrete busts of U.S. presidents . . . and a cartoon mock-up of the Beatles.

While I'm sure it wasn't quite the Rushmore, still, this was delightfully weird. Most of the heads are behind a fence topped by barbed wire, but a few were out in the open and we got to craw inside some. I encouraged Macy to pick Lincoln's nose, whereupon she fisted his nostril. I was overcome with giddiness and took as many photos as my camera could handle. Here's a gallery of the best shots.

Ok, so you have to be wondering: why? Well, keep wondering. The heads were created by 80-something artist David Adickes, quite an accomplished academic and teacher (apparently he taught at UT for a stint), at his SculturWorx studio in Houston (where we visited). Macy said it's not quite clear what the heads are for, and sleuthing on the InterTubes didn't help. The most informational thing I could find on the artist is here, an interview. But no information is provided about the presidents' project. There was also a "for sale" sign on the studio, so apparently he's going to retire.

I have no doubt the heads will find a home---someone will want them. I'm going to try to get Marty Medhurst here for a talk next year; perhaps he will be moved to create a Presidential Head Park at Baylor?