VCUarts Anderson Gallery
2002-2003 EXHIBITIONS

Clifford Earl
"Humphreymobile"
2002
Mixed media, wood, metal
36’’ x 18" x 30" approx
Photo: Katherine Wetzel

"Some of my happiest times as a kid were spent in a tiny, cluttered shop, reading old "Popular Mechanics" magazines and trying to build projects like sidewalk racers, slingshots and whirling lawn ornaments. I’ve been very lucky to have spent the last thirty-five years doing just that, and somehow managed to make a living at it. I can’t imagine doing anything else."

--Clifford Earl

Clifford Earl
"Alligator"
2001
Mixed media, wood, metal
72" x 24" x 24" approx
Photo: Katherine Wetzel

Rarely has an artist so resembled his work more than Clifford Earl. If he sat motionless on a box surrounded by his life-size sculptures of magical carts and wagons, pigs, birds, snakes, dogs and fish, it would be hard to single him out – especially if he was smiling. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, Earl is one of the most innovative, whimsical and creative Artist/Craftsmen in America. He’s a "builder," a finder of discarded objects, machine parts, bicycle wheels etc. that he combines and incorporates into his sculptures. Earl fondly refers to most of his creations as "contraptions" – and that they are – wonderful, funny, inventive, awesome artistic contraptions.


Cliff Earl
"Flying Machine"
1999
Mixed media, wood, metal
48" x 48" x 48" approx
Photo: Katherine Wetzel

Earl is represented by nine remarkable works including his Large Flying Machine, the great Fishing Dog, his six-foot Alligator and the famous eight-foot Acrobat Snake (standing on its head). Clifford Earl is a legend, and rightfully so: a one of a kind master craftsman.

Ted Potter
Director, Anderson Gallery