Untitled (Moby Dick)
Artist
Eric Mesko
(American, born 1943)
Datec. 1998
MediumPainted wood and metal on wood lamp stand
Dimensions55 × 28 × 5 in. (139.7 × 71.1 × 12.7 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of Dennis Nawrocki, 2018
Object numberUAC6610
DescriptionEric MeskoUntitled (Moby Dick)
Eric Mesko is a patriotic guy. The ex-Marine hangs several American flags on his property for the Fourth of July, and he’s disseminated hundreds of hand-painted, star-spangled signs around town over the years, urging citizens to exercise their right to vote. Videos of Mesko’s spirited “rants,” in which the self-described political independent stands on stage, newspaper in hand, and holds forth on the issues of the day, can be found on YouTube. And his nostalgic but pointedly political 2010 exhibit “Mudville USA” celebrated baseball, the national pastime. Perhaps it makes sense, then, that one of the Great American Novels would provide the subject for this found-object sculpture by Mesko. The titular cetacean of Herman Melville’s 1851 epic Moby Dick has been endlessly interpreted by artists, from book illustrators to Hollywood special effects wizards, for decades, but few depictions of the leg-chomping leviathan can rival Mesko’s version for whimsy. “Harpooned” on a recycled lamp stand and displayed like a trophy, the whale’s body is fashioned from scrap wood; the head is formed from a chunk of a door, with the dark, unpainted doorknob forming an outsized, bulging eye. The beast’s fins are made from crushed cans, and a hole drilled through its humped back suggests a sort of Cubist blowhole. The bolt of the doorknob hangs down like a single tooth, giving the creature a rather dopey but friendly expression. Mesko’s Moby is so incongruously amiable that one wonders if Ahab’s yarn about a deep sea menace was just a fish story after all.
Text by Sean Bieri
Eric Mesko (born 1943) comes from a Marine Corps family, and spent part of his childhood on a Marine base in Quantico, Virginia. He attended Wayne State University, earning a BFA and an MFA, and teaches drawing, design, and art appreciation at Macomb County Community College. His paintings and sculptures, though cartoony and folksy, are typically infused with challenging commentary on war, politics, and the art world. He lives in Ferndale; his yard and porch are host to a number of his quirky wooden creations.
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