Narrator: This sculpture was inspired by a fish found in Crete.
Artist, Jack Whitten: This fish was the symbol that I started with. It’s called Lichnos. Usually we catch them in nets, because they’re deep. But you have to be extremely careful when you catch them. They have spines that come out on the sides. And if ever one of those things penetrate your skin, you got big problems.
Narrator: He used two kinds of wood. There's a bit of red where they join.
Jack Whitten: That’s a piece of black mulberry that’s inserted into carupia. The carupia wood, the hardwood, is red. That wood is not stained. That red comes out of the natural wood. Tough, stringy, strong—very difficult wood to work with. I found that after a major fire. The whole inside is burnt out. I left that. And it’s placed on cinder blocks.
Narrator: The whitewash on the cinder blocks is the same kind that’s traditionally used on the exterior of houses in Crete.
Jack Whitten: It’s a gorgeous white. It keeps its brilliance, but you have to keep doing it over the years.
Audio files of interpretation from the BMA exhibition, Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture