What’s Pop-Smack? It's a collection of highly original, whimsical and often transgressive pop-art wall sculptures by Scott Bruce. Nothing is sacred and here’s how I make 'em . . .
Dope Aluminum
After picking up and loving a dope SpongeBob number, like a little featherlight, shiny buddy, I started buying character cake pans from the 1970s, 80s and 90s at flea markets and thrift stores before Covid. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I was hooked. They look so cool. -- like big metalic ( animal crackers)!
Cannon fodder
Shake off that thought of the Russian front line in Ukraine, we're talking crazy, kinetic kitsch here! Once I had character pans I began to grab any ceramic bank, mug or figure that caught my eye. Color, expressions and weirdness all matter. Having faith that I’ll eventually find a pan for them, I gave up worrying that I discovered a new vice. Drop 'em or the floor or hit 'em with a hammer -- they thrive on abuse.
Condomizing
Always testing and evaluating, I discovered I couldn't pour wet concrete directly into an aluminum pan (cement is caustic and will corrode the metal much like . . . . something) so I figured out how to make a new kind of mold by channeling Trojan and covering the pan first with layers of latex rubber. I brush it on, let it dry, and repeat . . . .many times.
Making it stiff
A latex mold alone is too floppy to support the weight of wet concrete so I learned to reinforce the rubber layer with wet plaster of paris bandages. How do I do this tedius job hour after hour? I pretend that Taylor Swift broke her femur (thigh bone) and I'm her Orthopedic surgeon putting on her cast . . . )
Coupling strangers
It's fun to marry a particular ceramic to a particular character pan (I know the thought of Ronald McDonald with his pants down gives me the willies too). . Always dour, Batman could use a serious med check. This usually obvious but often I'm surprised by a chance combination — like nuke-happy North Korean Prez Kim Jong Un and the Poppin’ Fresh Doughboy —but, over time, makes perfect intuitive sense. I give this process a lot of time -- often months until a solution presents itself.
The ceramic screamed . . .
Usually a swift blow of the hammer does the job but occassionally -- as in the case of JFK here -- it took a hammer and chisel to loosen and separate the back of his head (yes, I'll admit this process made me a bit queazy as I remember learning of the assassination over my elementary school's PA system Ever wonder why so many killers have two first names? Lee Harvey Oswald, Jesse James, James Earl Ray. Before 911 , when people mixed up my names (Scott Bruce becoming Bruce Scott) I used to say "and people wonder why Sirhan Sirhan fell off his rocker*
* For those of you too young to recognize Sirhan, he's the guy who wacked JFK's little brother and the father of the guy in the news who decapitated a dead bear with a chainsaw in New York's Central Park --The Great American (and Trump's proposed Secretary of Health and Welfare) Anti-Vaxer Robert Kennedy Jr.
Time to touch
No, I', not talking about brail here, I never know how the ceramic will break so the ultimate composition depends largely on chance and some subconscious algorithm that puts the pieces in the right place. Sometimes the breaks work out wonderfully (like "Bad News" here), other times not so much . . .
Getting gooey
Portland cement sets very quickly so once the wet concrete is mixed and poured into the mold I set the timer. The window for completing the piece is very small.
Peel to reveal
This is the most stressful part of the process: a few minutes too soon or too late and the wet concrete base will either stick to the latex or fall apart in chunks. F**K!
Tick tock
Once the latex mold is off the wet concrete I go to work like a demon to get all the shards in place as the concrete hardens. I prioritize each piece because in minutes the concrete will be unworkable.
In for the cure
No, not syphilis or alcoholism were talking about here, but weeks are needed for each new Smacker to dry out and chemically cure. Hang on the wall too soon and the Smacker will crack or the hanging loop on the back pull out. Not good.
C’mon! Smackers don’t bite take one — or a bunch — home
And add some edgy excitement to your tired walls with a Pikachu or a Wonder Woman Smacker. Your neighbors -- John and Martha -- over for drinks will be staggered. "What happened to clown painting above the couch?" They never knew you had such cool taste in art!
* I decided that the "collective" for Smackers is either "wiseacre" or"preponderance." The absurdity appeals to me. Leave your suggestions in the comments.
Don't believe me? Check out the review below . . .
Wake up the office
Hey! Tired of your crew starring at your combover or gray roots during presentations? Hang a row of whimsical Smackers on the conference room wall and you'll never have to worry about that again. Smackers offer a refreshing change from the anodyne staples of sailboats, flowers and dunes. Show 'em you have some balls and get Smacked, man!
Or fascinate your customers
Show your customers you have style and a sense of fun by hanging a few crazy Smackers. Raffle one off a week or make it a gift to your best customer. At 9-12 lbs each, it will make one hell of an impression.
About the Artist
Based in the Boston area, Scott Bruce has been taking risks in the art world for decades. After stints as a sculptor and non-profit artist-space director, he created and rode two collecting crazes -- vintage lunch boxes and cereal boxes -- to international attention in the '80s and '90s.
Scott began picking up aluminum character cake pans at yard sales before Covid without any plan. Playing around with concrete casting during the lockdown and the chance breaking of a Wilma Flintstone mug -- used as a pen holder — resulted in the first ceramic and concrete wall hanging sculpture -- and soon after Pop-Smack was born.