Alien
Loren Madsen of Laytonville, has a unique sculpture, "Alien" in the Farmers Market on Cloverdale Blvd. near E. 2nd Street, as part of the Cloverdale Sculpture Trail. "Alien" is made from a fir tree, which had grown two trunks. Loren dug out around the roots and included them in the sculpture inverting the whole tree so that it stands on the tips of the two trunks. It is 20 feet high, about 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, and has been oiled against exterior forces. The sponsor of "Alien", Best of Show winner, is David McChesney.
Madsen is known for his data-driven and statistical sculptures, to see some kind of accurate perception in a world of opinion. His "Long Scroll", data driven sculpture, is now in the possession of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. The artist describes "Long Scroll" as an attempt to account for every day of my life from graduation in 1970 until the end of the century on December 31, 1999. The scroll is 36 inches high by 30+ feet long and is gridded into approximately 11,000 1-inch squares. Each space is annotated with symbols indicating the activity for that day: studio or commission work, travel, renovations, group and solo exhibitions, reviews and so on.
Loren also enjoyed "making" things while at the same time creating data sculptures.. A move to Northern California inspired him to make sculptures from the trees on his property. He continues both the data -based and intuitive lines of sculpture, and carving locally harvested logs.