Danny O collects balls - lots of them. In fact, the Berkshire artist - who for years has gathered discarded balls from rivers, beaches, roadsides, and even sewers - just earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for his astounding collection.
The balls - 11, 430 of them, to be exact - formed the basis of Danny O's Ball Walk, which was installed at MASS MoCA as a part of the Game Show exhibition. The floor piece was created mosaic-style, in which balls of every imaginable size, shape, and condition collectively formed the image of a boy looking through binoculars. The Guinness Book of World Records has accepted the piece as the "World's Largest Ball Mosaic" - the first in its category. It will appear in the 2004 edition of the Guinness Book. Ball Walk was installed from June 2001 to April 2002.
"Once I'd gotten about 10,000 balls together, I just knew it had to be a record," remarks Danny O. "In the context of the Game Show theme, an official world record seemed appropriate - sort of an expansion of the game."
"The vast scale, the accumulation of strange stories that accompanied the collection process, the smell of decaying rubber, the sheer variety of the specimens and the outrageousness of Danny O's effort - somewhere in that quixotic mix there is also a rather touching and human form of art. All art breaks records, so it nice to see Danny O's project recognized by Guinness," said Joseph Thompson, director of MASS MoCA. "
The Christian Science Monitor called Ball Walk, "the most moving piece" in a show that offers a "satisfying blend of the visual, intellectual, and emotional," and New York Arts described it as "a tour de force of perfectly childish brilliance." In addition, the piece was reviewed by the Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, Berkshire Record, Jerusalem Post, Schenectady Gazette, and more.
"One of the most incredible parts of Ball Walk was the process of collecting the balls," says Danny O. "I've been collecting balls for five years, and I've done it all - waded through streams, overturned rafts, climbed rocks, and swum beneath waterfalls - just to gather a discarded ball." O has also organized nationwide scavenger hunts for balls, and while he lived in Boston, friends, neighbors, and fans regularly dropped off balls at the doorstep of his studio.
The community was an important part of the MASS MoCA exhibit. The community was invited to donate found balls to the collection, using a collection bin that was set up in the front courtyard. For months, MASS MoCA received shipped boxes of found balls that had been mailed - often anonymously - to Danny O by museum visitors. Often, these balls arrive with notes that describe where and how they were found.
One North Adams resident dreamed that large, pink ball had landed at his feet; a few days later, he found himself waist-deep in the Green River, wading toward the very ball he'd seen in his sleep, which was stuck between some rocks in the water. Another resident found an old bowling ball, tucked in a musty old bag, in the attic of her new home. Moved by the sight and smell of this ball - which had clearly been used for a long time by a previous elderly resident - she decided to honor it by making it a part of Danny's permanent collection.
"Really, the world record belongs to the whole community," says Danny O.
Letters of support were written by Mayor John Barrett III and John Cronin, of Northern Berkshire Health Systems, as well as by Gay Kendall, a physicist with the Army Corps of Engineers and professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Kendall's review of Danny O's collection noted another interesting fact: the size of the balls appear to follow an inverse-square power law size distribution. Dr. Kendall measured the diameters of a representative subset of the collection, and is currently analyzing the data; she believes the result will be of interest to the scientific community.
In the meantime, Danny O has moved onto a new artistic endeavor also featuring found objects: a series of collage images, created from magazine clippings pasted to the back of record albums. The images represent regional, national, and even international landmarks. The first exhibit of works from this project, the Greatest Hits from Boston to the Berkshires, can currently be seen at the Skywalk observation deck of the Prudential Building in Boston.
"I've been working on it for about a year, and I've currently got about 60 images in the collection. In addition to Boston and the Berkshires, I've done landmarks in Martha's Vineyard, Vermont, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Paris," Danny explains. "My goal is to create images from every place I visit." As he travels, he'll need quite a bit of storage. "I plan to collect balls everywhere I go," he says.
Danny O's work has been collected by Soft Key International, Atlantic Records, Rounder Records, Dialogos, American Tower Corporation, and more. His illustrations have appeared in the Boston Globe, as well as national magazines, and he has created artwork for game boards, book jackets, and CD covers. A painting of his was featured on the opening sequence of the Mad About You hit television show.
MASS MoCA, the largest center for visual and performing arts in the United States, is located on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th century factory buildings. MASS MoCA focuses on the work of visual and performing artists charting new territory.
For more information, visit www.dannyoart.com or www.massmoca.org .
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Winter Storm Warning Issued for Berkshires
Another snowstorm is expected to move through the region overnight on Friday, bringing 5 to 8 inches of snow. This is updated from Thursday's winter weather advisory.
The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., has posted a winter storm warning for all of Berkshire County and parts of eastern New York State beginning Friday at 4 p.m. through Saturday at 1 p.m.
The region could see heavy to moderate snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour overnight, tapering off Saturday morning to flurries.
Drivers should exercise caution on Friday night and Saturday morning, as travel conditions may be hazardous.
Saturday night should be clear and calm, but warming temperatures means freezing rain Sunday night and rain through Monday with highs in the 40s. The forecast isn't much better through the week as temperatures dip back into the teens with New Year's Eve looking cloudy and frigid.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
click for more
