go to map!Sponsored by: PNC Bank
Charity: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Fossil Location: PNC Bank (2009) map ] [ directions to ]
Auction Price: $3500
Materials: Inkjet prints of photographs of urban Pittsburgh
Theme: Duality of the perception of Pittsburgh
 
 

Burghosaurus About the Design
Calderone's concept is to create a grand portrait of Pittsburgh that parallels the duality of the city's identity. Implementation of this entails photographic transparencies digitally scanned into a computer and made into inkjet prints. These are then arrayed on the dinosaur in a manner that mirrors the marking and patterns of the animal's skin. From a distance, the dinosaur appears typical. When an observer gets closer to the animal, the patterns in the skin become evident as images from the present.

First and long-time visitors to the city arrive expecting a relic mired in its past and are surprised and delighted to find an intriguing high-tech metropolis.  The methodology used in Sold!creating "The Burghosaurus" articulates this connotation of Pittsburgh's image in three ways: The creative process advances old technology to new; the public interaction combines latent presumption with acute observation; and the overall implication of this interpretation is to transcend perception with actuality.

Like Pittsburgh, this dinosaur has evolved from a dusty fossil into a brilliant urban warrior.

About the Sponsor
PNC Bank takes a comprehensive approach to helping enrich the lives of its neighbors and drive economic development in the regions it serves. Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s DinoMite Days was a great fit for this strategy—it highlighted the museum’s outstanding displays, showcased the work of area artists, and attracted visitors to the core of our region. PNC Bank was proud to play a role.

Click on the thumbnails for more pictures of The Burghosaurus: