DC
Direct's Green Lantern vs. Sinestro
Statue
AFI is pleased to bring you this exclusive behind the scenes
look at the recently announced DC Direct Green Lantern Vs. Sinestro
statue sculpted by Tim Bruckner. This is such and interesting
and dynamic piece it's hard to capture how cool it really is with
a single solicitation photo, so we felt it was worth a closer
look. Not only did we get additional turn around and close-up
shots butt we also have some exclusive shots of the unpainted
piece and some fascinating insight into the development and production
of the piece.
For anyone that has ever spoken to Tim Bruckner about sculpture
you know he is a walking art history lesson. He calls it "stealing
from the 'greats'" but when you really look at one of his
pieces you know that it is so much more than that. He knows who's
work to look at and what pieces he'll need to make a project work.
 The
the Green Lantern vs. Sinestro statue he was inspired by Jean-Antoine
Houdon (1741-1828), an absolutely brilliant portraitist. He did
those amazing portraits of Franklin, Jefferson, Voltaire. according
to the National
Gallery of Art:
Houdon's career coincided with an extremely turbulent period
in French and American history, spanning two revolutions, the
Directoire, and the empire under Napoleon. His images of the key
figures of the time provide fascinating insights into history
as well as the history of portraiture.
Born at Versailles in 1741, Houdon received the best academic
education available to a young sculptor and won the Prix de Rome
in 1761. While in Italy he showed an unusual interest in anatomical
studies, creating his famous figure of L'Ecorché, or flayed
man, during his stay at the Académie de France. Although
trained to work for the French court, Houdon became the preferred
sculptor of leaders of the Enlightenment, especially Frédéric
Melchior Grimm (1728-1807) and Denis Diderot (1713-1784). Through
them he received commissions from foreign patrons. He traveled
to the German court of Saxe-Gotha twice in the early 1770s and
later worked for the court of Catherine II of Russia.
It was, however, with his famous bust of Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
(1771), exhibited at the Salon of 1771, that Houdon's career as
a portrait sculptor was launched. He was to portray most of the
great intellectual, military, and political figures of the Enlightenment
in France and in the United States. He was to revolutionize portraiture,
rendering his sitters with a remarkable degree of physical accuracy
(often using either life or death masks) and with extraordinary
psychological insight. Houdon's real genius lay in his capacity
to show the individual as a whole.
Drawing off of that Tim has a real desire to push DC Direct's
statues to the limit. In the history of DC statues there have
been quite a few "guys in tights waiting for a bus"
type scenes. They're called action heroes for a reason. And drawing
from the inspiration of Houdon you get a real sense of kinetic
energy with this sculpt. There was a moment that happened before
this 3-D snapshot and in mere seconds all hell will break loose.
The desire of this piece is for the viewer to be involved in a
sensory experience of bodies in motion, propelled in action through
action. When you look at you should actually be able to feel the
kinetic energy.
Tim, by his own admission isn't under the impression that he's
come anywhere close to what Houdon could do or did. He says it's
taken him twenty years to just scratch the surface. Green Lantern
vs. Sinestro was the first statue where he was able to apply a
little of this theory and have it make sense to him in 3D.
Tim was kind enough to pass along these shots of the unpainted
piece, and you are able to see much more of the detail and energy
of the original sculpt than you could ever get with a single solicitation
photo. You can really see these two life-long enemies above a
deserted moon getting ready to nock each other's block off.
UNPAINTED SCULPT
PAINTED TURNAROUNDS AND CLOSE UPS
A very special thanks to Tim Bruckner for sharing
these shots with us.
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