Holy Cow! Artist creates gigantic sculpture of Harry Caray (pic)
A Chicago-area artist recently put the finishing touches on a gigantic clay sculpture of Harry Caray’s head and upper torso. And it’s impressive, indeed.
He. Is. Back.
Giant Harry sculpture by Hollywood SFX artist Kevin a Kirkpatrick – flanked by his wife Dutchie and Ryne Sandberg – unveiled for annual Harry Caray’s Restaurant toast in his memory tonight. Now 20 years since we lost him.
It might be. It could be. It almost IS! pic.twitter.com/D35HqvjaFL
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 15, 2018
As noted in the above tweet, Kevin Kirkpatrick, who resides in Freeport, Ill., is a renowned makeup effects artist who has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for his work on “American Horror Story” and “The Knick.” He detailed how the Caray sculpture, which started as 400 pounds of clay, was a labor of love when discussing the project with the Chicago Tribune.
“I’ve wanted to do Harry for such a long time, but I just kept putting it off and putting it off,” Kirkpatrick said. “When they won the World Series, I was like, ‘This is it. It’s finally time.'”
Kirkpatrick stated it took about six-and-a-half months total to complete the piece. He took it with him out to Los Angeles so he could work on it on the side while serving on the crew of HBO’s “Westworld.” Before that, he spent about 12 hours a day for four months working on the Caray sculpture in Freeport.
Interestingly, the Cubs issued a tweet earlier this week noting how it’s been 20 years since Caray shuffled off this mortal coil.
On this date 20 years ago, legendary #Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray passed away. His stories live on. pic.twitter.com/0aWMy64Hnb
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) February 18, 2018
Some additional, fascinating details on the sculpture.
One of the more difficult things for Kirkpatrick to find was the real white human hair, which was inserted into the silicone and styled to look like Caray’s. The glasses were 3D printed and then followed a similar process to the rest of the sculpture. Kirkpatrick spent about $30,000 on the project, and is selling the sculpture for $90,000 to the museum.
Holy cow, indeed.