www.TIMBRUCKNER.com

with Tim Bruckner

Welcome to a new Feature on the site "Busting up the Joint" with Tim Bruckner. In talking with my friend, master sculptor Tim Bruckner I realized a lot of his most recent works have been busts. I thought it would be a nice change of pace to look at this segment of pop art and see how it varies from the sculpting of action figures.

Anyone that has ever spent any time talking with Tim will tell you that he is equal parts: artist. sculptor, genius, hippy, philosopher, historian, dime-store psychologist, storyteller, rabble-rouser, farmer and regular joe. He's funny, kind and self-efaceing almost to the point of being oblivious of his own talent. Each one of our conversations becomes a mini-master class on sculpting, art history and life in general, and I wanted to bring some of that to the site. Tim has been gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to thoroughly answer my questions.

So sit back, have a drink of your choice (Tim wouldn't have it any other way) and enjoy the first installment of "Busting Up the Joint"

Christmas Carol

It's rare, but once in a great while a professional sculptor finds time in his impossibly busy schedule to do a passion project. Something that is all theirs. Not "from the pages of...", Not "in the style of...", as so much of the pop-art work that is out there right now. This is from the mind and heart of the artist, the creator. In this particular case Tim is still interpreting and translating the text and ideas of Charles Dickens, but that is hardly the same as the usual "hands for hire" work of translating someone else's 2-D art work into 3-D.

Christmas Carol is a project that has been on Tim's mind for several years. I had heard him speak of his desire to do them some day. This past year he was actually able to steal some time and complete the first three busts in the line.

Tim has done a lot of busts in his long career, and he has innovated several features that are now being used in several bust lines, but with Tim creating and designing the Christmas Carol line he has put everything into the design aspect and had come up with some revolutionary concepts.

First of all as you can see from the picture above (and later in the feature) that these are not your standard "half a guy on a base" busts. Each character pivots on it's post so that as more characters are added they can "interact" with each other. Also you are not locked into one set view of how the designer/manufacturer wanted you to look at them.

Each base has a copy of the Christmas Carol book open to a specific passage about the character on display. The book comes off the stand and doubles as an ornament. On the back of the base/bookstand there is another crest that relates back to the character and story.

Lets hear more about the the ideas behind their creation, their inspiration and their future from the man himself, Tim Bruckner.

What attracted you to Christmas Carol?

I was familiar with the story through the films being played on TV when I was a kid. When I was fifteen I managed to find a small, unabridged copy of the book. I've read A Christmas Carol virtually every year since then. To me, its the quintessential story of reclamation. My appreciation and understanding of the story has only deepened over the years. And each year, it seems to carry greater relevance given the tenor of the time. We seem to be at a place in our society where the very nature of what it is to be human is under attack from ideologies like the 48 Laws of Power and the celebration of the desires of the Self as opposed to the needs of the Many. A Christmas Carol reminds us of the responsibilities of being connected to our fellow humans and the benefits that are bestowed when we are.  But aside from it being a tale of morality,  its a damn fine ghost story.  When Marley unties his chin wrap to let his jaw fall against his chest in a silent scream, if you've read the book, that's not an image you're likely soon to forget. Its a story of hope.  And which of us sorry sinners doesn't wish for a second chance like the one Scrooge received?

With getting to create your own line of busts you have complete creative control. How are you with giving yourself notes?

I'm very demanding, uncompromising, inflexible. As my own boss, I insisted I have a good time. That point was non-negotiable. Aside from that, I'm a delight to work with.  I have to say that.  I'm sure my boss will read this.  Once I had the basics figured out and resolved the technical issues, it came down to creating people I recognized.  People I knew.  Reading and re-reading the text, uncovering clues that may give some insight into their physicality, being familiar with the time, the location, the society and then trying bring it all together in a portrait of that particular character.  The Ghost of Christmas Present was the most difficult.  I spent most of a day trying to find him. I must have gone through at least a half dozen different faces.  None of them fit. Finally, I got a hint of him while roughing out his nose and mouth. The rest of him followed and at the end of the day, I recognized him as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

 I'm a pretty lazy sculptor, ask my boss. I don't do more than I have to. In all of these first three, I haven't done more that the character asked for and haven't done less than they needed. As far as giving myself notes? I write them left handed so I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Ignorance is bliss.

How many more waves do you have planned out?

I'm not sure how they'll be released as far as waves.  I plan on twelve figures for Christmas Carol. Somewhere, in the not too distant future, I hope to do Dickens's Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. Miss Havisham and Jenny Wren are two of his most interesting and bizarre of his characters. I 'd love to do a whole line of Dickens's villains as well.  They're some of the best of the bad in all of western literature.

Tiny Tim

The Base

What is your view of the term “bust?”

It seems like there is a lot of product being released under the name “bust” that are just statues without knees. Good question. Traditionally, a bust is a sculpture of a figure from mid chest up, without arms. But busts with arms have been around since the Renaissance, if not before. Personally, I like working within the format of busts with arms.  It lets me concentrate on character without a lot of distraction. No offense to anyone, but I don't get a bust that is truncated at the knees. Its an awkward solution.  I can see a sculpture of a figure that's standing knee deep in water or snow, sand or tall grass. The truncation looks natural and we're allowed to suspend belief in context. But to just cut a statue off at the knees and call it a bust is just silly. I don't know who started it but I wish they'd stop.

The bases are so innovative and are as interesting as the character with the removable book ornament and the decoration of the book stand. Can you speak to how you developed that?

It began as an extension of something I developed a few years ago.  I wanted to be able to offer the consumer the ability to position the figure according to their particular predilection.  Up until then, busts came mounted on a base with a predetermined money view.  If you preferred another view of the figure, you'd lose the visual focus of the base. From a display view point, you were kind of stuck. So, I knew, going in, I was going to give people the choice. So, the figures pivot on their bases.  How they're displayed is up to the consumer, not me.  (Dark Horse was the first company to use Tim's pivot feature for the animated Hell boy busts he created and later, the Elfquest busts). Each character is associated with specific imagery as the story unfolds.  If you know the book and you see Marley's head as a door knocker, you know where you are chronologically.  Knowing where you are, helps give the figure context. All of Scrooge's visitations begin and end from his bed, (with the exception of Marley) and his bed curtains act as stage curtains, ostensibly. I wanted to frame specific visual elements within a design device that would be relevant throughout the entire series; bed curtains. The text is so important. I wanted to remind people, before it was a movie, or musical or a stage play, it was a book. It just seemed a natural way to link the text to the figure and, again, set the character in context within the story. Ornaments are as much, if not more, about memories than they are decorations. They're like touchstones from one year to the next. It was my hope that, when the ritual of decorating the tree came about, hanging the book ornament of Scrooge or Tiny Tim or the Ghost of Christmas Past,  would create and sustain the memory of that Christmas for years to come. More than anything, I wanted people to feel a personal connection the these pieces in the same way I feel personally connected to the characters I've know for most of my life.

I've often heard you say that when stuck for something on a project you “steal from really famous dead guys” any examples of that with the first 3 Christmas Carol Busts?

What I've actually said, is "steal from really  good dead guys". As we both know, talent and fame don't necessarily lead one to another.  At this point, almost every time I sit down to do a piece, someone, somewhere is rolling over in their grave. The artist that most influenced this line was Norman Rockwell. I looked at a lot of Rockwell before sculpting.  Every night for about a month, before I started work on Christmas Carol, I sat with a coffee table book containing three-hundred and seventy-some of his cover paintings and went from cover to cover, over and over again. The more I looked the more I learned.  He was a brilliant story teller.  There isn't an element in on any those paintings that doesn't advance the story in some way. He developed a kind of character-short hand. You knew, from just looking at a character, a little about them beyond the scene in which they were involved.  Proportion, dynamics, attitude, I stole it all. Many thanks, Mr. Rockwell. Drinks on me.

The Ghost of Christmas Present

Scrooge

The Base

What is the future of this line?

As I write this, to be honest, I'm not sure. I know, one way or the other, this line will be produced.  Several companies have shown interest. The most compelling factor for me is control. I need to be able to see this project through to the end. I know the rest of the cast, I know what they look like, I know who they are.  I won't give that up. I need to be able to control the quality of manufacturing. I need to be sure that the work I make available is as close as possible to the work I created.  Its a big project, I'm open to suggestions, advice, good wishes, or support that will lead toward making this project a reality. I'll keep you posted.

In addition to all the other things you do each year, you also write an annual Christmas story. Can you talk about the genesis and history of that?

The short version. When our son was four or five, I used to tell him a bedtime story of Little Boy and Red Dragon. A boy very much like our son, who lived on a farm very much like the one he lived on, whose best friend was a Red Dragon.  Night after night, the story grew and developed and he began to have favorite parts which he'd ask for. One Christmas, I took all his favorite bits, strung them together with other bits. printed it, bound it and gave it to him as a present. From then on, I started writing Christmas stories. As the kids grew older, the stories became more complex and more geared to who they were and what they were about. When they groaned at the prospect of Daddy telling them yet another bedtime Christmas story, I started exploring more adult themes and different genre's. So far, I've written fifteen to sixteen Christmas themed stories; Santa and his Elves, hard boiled detective, Victorian mystery, ghost stories, Surrealism, situation comedies, Western, Metaphysical, the list goes on. I begin writing around October.  I usually have four or five in the works. As soon as I know how it ends, I stop writing.  The one, that after twenty or so pages, is still unresolved, I continue with.  I like to be as surprised as the reader as it how it turns out.  I print out a dozen or so copies and give them to friends and family.  Some year, I'd like to go back, reread and edit them all and have them printed and bound as a collection and give them as gifts to long suffering and indulgent friends and family. Would I like to see them published? Its a dream. Maybe someday...

As some of you may have already seen, master sculptor Tim Bruckner has launched his own website showcasing much of his work over the past 10 years. It's not a complete history by any means, as there are still items that he wishes he could re-do or that would never have seen the light of day. But it is well worth taking some time to poke around and see what the original figures and paint masters look like before they change in the manufacturing process. Tim not only does the photography for all of his work, but he paints and casts all of his own figures as well. Seeing those original paint masters alone is worth carving out some time in your day to poke around the new site and see all the angles. Tim's new site not only shows off his extensive body of work for DC Direct, but also work from other toy companies and a few surprises if you dig deep enough...

Make sure you check out www.timbruckner.com for a no where near complete look at Tim's work!

A big "Thank you" to Tim Bruckner for this opportunity to take a closer look at this original line.