Todd Gilmore

Sue Stilley                                                                                                    August 25, 2003
Flagstaff, Arizona

Dear Sue,
     In the two weeks since I have finished The Mayor, I have had four different people want to buy it, and each time I told myself that this is between Butch, Nancy, and Dave. You and I are merely loving conduits.
     I have had the stone for almost two years, and have tried two prior times to manifest The Mayor. For me, this is unprecedented. I always know exactly what I am going to do. Each of the prior attempts was excruciating with the end product being terrible. Dave’s piece is real strong. It’s amongst my best. In fact, it is too good.
     I truly believe there was unfinished business between Dave and Butch and this is Butch’s branch to his best friend. Only Dave and Nancy will be able to really know what is going on here, but I have made the following inferences:

     Glass- I think this is about the fragility of life and how precariously we are all perched. Also, where the glass meets the stone is always afire. I think this is a metaphor for how Butch took the magic from the skies and brought it to us earthlings in an always combustible, mesmerizing way.
     Copper- I feel this is a contextual response to the grandeur of the Southwest. It is also malleable, forgiving, and gets better with age.
     Form- The whirl is clean, simple, and dazzling in what it manifests. It might be a message about Corkscrew. It might be about embracing. It is modern. It is organic. It is real, real powerful.

     Bottom line, this has never been my sculpture. I had always seen it in Dave’s office for him to draw sustenance from knowing his friendship will always continue and nothing has changed.

My Love,

 

Todd Gilmore

24 x 48 x 20"
Copper, Glass, and Flagstone
2003