The sculpture was to be placed in a very strategic place, in the middle of a storefront near where the international travellers ascend from the baggage claim below. For many foreign visitors to Houston, this longhorn will be one of the first things they see when they arrive in Texas.
When the store was almost completed, I was allowed to bring a crew into Terminal D to bolt him to the steel studs in the store wall. I had to finish it and paint the background behind a privacy wall, giving me only about two feet, in jake-leg lighting to see what I was doing... and unable to back off and see it until the wall was taken down upon the grand opening. I also installed a mural I had painted for the inside of the store. Ah the agony and the ecstacy...
The morning Stelzig's opened, I came back to do finishing touches to get him ready for serious posing as international tourists discover him.
So now if you happen to see him, you will know how he got there, and what the artist went through to place a piece of public art... and thankfully, without the use of taxidermy!
You can see much more of my sculpture work at russellcushman.com
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