So 2 years later I packed everything, loaded up the truck and headed to Buffalo, NY for a weeks worth of installation. It was decided that Hallwalls would pay for any extra supplies that I needed so when I first got to Buffalo I had them purchase all of the lumber for the underlying structure and then later went with John to get wood sides cut. The installation went as quick as expected and I built the city in about 2 days and spent the second and third days attaching the sides for the piece and fine tuning it. I started by building the underlying structure out of 2″x4″‘s and then put down my plywood that the city was going to be built on. I had to adjust for the pole which was coming down through the middle of it and I had to shimmy the back of the piece to account for a dip in the floor that was causing one of the joints to collapse. The laying out of the city went quickly and only took the afternoon since everything was traced out already and numbered accordingly. When I was finished I filled in any imperfections or gaps in the mat board pieces with trees which were pre-painted grey. I also spent an afternoon cutting out mat board to put around the pole; I purposefully left this area as an “adjustable” park area so that I would have some flexibility when installing. I decided to paint the bottom of the pole gray and also decided to paint the bottom part of the wall in the back gray as well. When I was finished I went with John to have sides cut which I then painted, attached and wood filled. The only real problem was the gap between the 2 walls in the middle of the back of the piece which I hung a piece of fabric over to keep the light from coming through. The last thing I needed to think about was the placement of the paintings. I experimented a little with the placement of Davy Crockett and decided to install it so that it could be seen from a distance as the viewer enters from around the front of the city. From the main photo, Blues Skies Again was hung on the wall on the right (which is the left when you walk in) and These Dreams Never End was hung on the left, perpendicular to Davy Crockett. I had contemplated putting paintings across from the city but decided against it since the city was the main focus and I didn’t want to distract the viewer. The very last part was lighting and I decided to light it with very minimal lighting in order to give it a somber feeling. John thought it would be fun to do a stop animation of the installation which I then edited and sped up. It can be found here: Epicenter City Time Lapse Video
Here are some photos of the finished piece along with other elements of the installation.
Brian Higbee 