Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Oh Bois! Faux Bois for the East End-cont'd



The funny thing is that TxDot is already trying to do a touch of faux bois
on its structural bridge columns. For 2 decades they've had an in-house policy that any new under/over pass columns need to be more artistic. You may have seen examples of this in Bellaire along 610, in SugarLand along new stretches of 59S, out in Katy along I-10. Columns have been
embedded with Texas Stars, Tx flags, recently, I saw some with sides of wood grain concrete along I-10E & Kelly Rd, and also west out 290, near the town of Hempstead. Nice try....no cigar.
For the pleasure of all the pilgrims, retirees, GI Bill soldiers, artists and renegades that are sure to flock to the East End, we need a master to take us into a deeply funky, whole hog visual commitment of the art and the craft of faux bois. (We also might need an americanized version of the name...it's getting tedious writing and pronoucing faux bois in my head as I post this. Suggestions?) And that master could be Carlos Cortes of San Antonio. Here's his website. http://www.studiocortes.com/ I've met him. Very friendly. That's Carlo's work in the photo above, at the San Antonio Riverwalk. What a heritage! If he's too busy, maybe the guys at Taller Fence and Ironwork could dip their hands in the concrete. The man that can forge this door, couldn't he forge some concrete, too? Not yet!
more master quality faux bois can be found by clicking the link below.

http://www.pbase.com/char/somerset

Can you envision this for the East End?

3 comments:

Tango said...

Being a native Eastender here in Houston, a sculptor of Faux Bois and old friend of Carlos Cortes...I had to jump in and correct a minor information issue. The "trees" in the image above are not the work of Maximo Cortes (Carlos' father), but rather Carlos himself. They are buttress-like installations on The Riverwalk in San Antonio.

And if you want to use a different name for the art, how about the Spanish term..."El Trabajo Rustico" (the rustic work). That is really what both Carlos and I do. It differs from the French school of he art in that it is much more finely detailed and uses more complex mixtures of cement.
You can find quite a bit of info & pix on Faux Bois & El Trabajo Rustico on my website...
www.thegardenartforum.com

Unknown said...

Thank you, Tango! For the correction, and also the name suggestion...good call.

I don't get many comments here, but I do get email about the East End.

Wanna tell us about your East End connection and your work, please?

DanaJ

Babs said...

The Mexican men that I employed for some of my restaurant projects in Houston in the 80's nd 90's were masters with concrete. Masters. Ask around, you'll find someone right under your nose!