It's Andy Fish!

Boy I wish this book was around when I did this project. You’re lucky, if you’re thinking of doing this you can get a copy here for only FIVE bucks.

I don’t exactly remember the year I did 3D Tape People installations at the Worcester Art Museum. I taught there for fifteen years from 1999-2014 and I’m pretty sure it was in the later part of my tenure- so let’s say 2012 because that’s when the Wayne White documentary came out called BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING which I’m also reasonably certain was the inspiration for them in the first place. I was also reading JUXTAPOZ magazine and other art mags so it might have come from there.

The idea is reasonably simple; although a bit expensive. You take a model– any sized person will do– the basic thing is they have to be willing to be “taped” but I found a trick to make it less claustrophobic than you might imagine.

TOOLS

• LOTS of shipping tape. I like to use Duck Brand– its thick, it doesn’t break and it is easy to cut.
• Scissors
• Styrofoam head.
• Pile of old clothes in the same size as your model, if you’re working with a bunch of teens like I was, in advance have them bring in some old clothes they would otherwise throw out. Shoes too. I also love hoodies for this.
• Digital camera or phone so you can snap a photo of the pose you want your tape model in. Standing is fine, but mix it up, have a few sitting down, my favorite is the model leaning while looking at their phone so their head is down, which is virtually the official pose of teenagers today.

You start with body parts, say the right arm first. Starting from the shoulder all the way down to the hands you wrap a layer of shipping tape (sticky side up– this is important) to the model. Don’t make it so tight you cut off circulation- keep a close eye on enthusiastic student sculptors because they are going to really get into this. Make it one or two layers depending on how strong you want it to be (and what your budget is for tape). Some “recipes” call for you to simply wrap someone in cling wrap first and then tape over that– I like my method better because it makes a stronger sculpture as I prefer and you’ll see why in a minute.

Now take your tape and apply another layer sticky side down on the sticky side up tape base. One or two layers like you did with the first. Now since you didn’t make it so tight and left a little air you can easily cut the tape off in one single cut that follows the entire arm, lift it off and now take some more tape and close the slice and you have a pretty solid arm.

Repeat the process with the torso, the hips, the other arm and the legs. Use your styrofoam head to make the head shape without smothering your model.

Now you’ve got your Frankenstein pile of body parts– start to assemble it. You attach the arms to the torso, the legs, etc and pretty soon you’ll have a full figure tape sculpture of your model. Your first one might be a little rough, but trust me as you do more and more– and your class will not want to stop, the figures will get better and better.

We then took these tape figures and set them up all around the campus, much to the amusement of passerby.

A little secret sauce– an art installation isn’t an art installation until the police are involved.

I did this installation quite a few times, and it was a hit everytime. The best one was when I had the students bring in old clothes they no longer wanted or needed (Parental permission of course) and we dressed the tape models– this is why I do the double layers with the good tape because then they are strong enough to stand with those clothes on– the hoodies are a perfect touch because you pull those up to hide the “invisible” head.

We set this up one year on a very warm Summer day– and then from a huge window in the studio we watched passerby reaction. Some of the models would start to soften in the heat, and some would start to sag– sagging was good because that’s when the Po Po would show up (and before you lecture me about tying up police for nonsense I know how quadrant shifts work and when their downtime is and how low a priority a check on the welfare of someone who is not on the ground is so there). We saw two policemen walk up to the “kid” leaning against a railing looking at his phone as his head sagged more and more. The cops talked to him for a few seconds and then one bent over and looked up the hood and started laughing.

After some time doing this I would notify the quadrant sergeant on duty when we were going to be doing these, so they could ignore calls for teens in hoods outside the museum melting but the cops would always come anyway and get a good laugh.

Fun times.