Bernardo Corman's 2-ton 'CaddyCorner' headed to Kuwait

Bernardo Corman is only 51, so perhaps it's premature to call this his magnum opus. But for now, it's certainly the leading contender.

The piece in question is CaddyCorner, his whimsical salute to the Sputnik-era styling of the '59 Cadillac. Now at a Chester foundry waiting shipment to the Kuwaiti businessman who commissioned it, this monumental bronze sculpture is about the size (18 feet along its outer curve) and weight (more than two tons) of a real Cadillac.

Corman, an "automotive sculptor," specializes in "marrying the mechanical to the organic, the bombastic to the comical." His interpretation of one of the largest road yachts of the age of heavy metal shows the Cadillac with the defining rocket-ship fins bending itself into a 90-degree tuck as it negotiates a corner like one of those rubbery, fantastical vehicles from a Looney Tunes cartoon.

"I try to make stuff that is funny and cool and that people will look at and say, 'Wow, that's awesome!' " says Corman, who lives in Jackson Township, N.J.

His sculptures are owned by many private collectors, including Elton John, Stephen King, and members of the band Blondie.

"What I like most about his art is the humor," says Les Barany, a New York-based agent for artists and the author of Carnivora: The Dark Art of Automobiles. "There's a concept behind it, often a visual pun that's accessible even to someone not particularly into cars."

"The detail and craftsmanship of his pieces are amazing," says Christopher Robinson, who displayed Corman's sculptures when he was curator of a gallery in Freehold, N.J. "They show a tremendous amount of dedication and passion."

The genesis of the Cadillac piece was a tabletop sculpture that Corman consigned to a gallery in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Kuwaiti businessman, who Corman says wishes to remain anonymous, was shopping for a yacht when he happened to see it. In 2006, he contacted Corman to express his admiration, and Corman proposed making a larger version, four or five feet perhaps.

His Kuwaiti client had a better idea: "How about life-size?"

"I have to give credit to my client," Corman says. "He had the humor and imagination to enlarge it to something spectacular."

The process consumed 18 months and was, Corman says, "a real adventure." From his original piece, which was scanned with a computer, a full-size model was milled in Styrofoam at Laran Bronze, a fine-arts foundry in Chester. Corman then slathered it with Spackle and shaped and sanded the contours. "For weeks, it was just a giant drywall job," he quips.

To capture such distinctive details as the egg-crate grille and bullet-shaped taillights, he incorporated molds from actual Cadillac parts. Melding the dimensions of the real and surreal was an abiding challenge. Cadillac hubcaps, for instance, adorn Honda-size wheels.

"I took liberties and exaggerated," Corman says. "I love vintage cars, especially ones from the late '50s, which show so much imagination and style, but I like to have fun with them."

Immortalizing his vision in bronze was intricate and laborious, involving both sand and wax methods to make molds and castings. In the end, it produced about 35 bronze panels, each about a quarter-inch thick, that were welded together over a steel skeleton, then ground and polished smooth.

At the request of the client, who insisted on being able to sit in or on the sculpture, Corman converted the trunk into a rear-facing rumble seat, another touch of whimsy.

Because of its size and ambitiousness, CaddyCorner represents a departure for Corman, who usually does all the work on a project himself and, like most artists, is loath to cede control. In this instance, he was compelled to collaborate, to coordinate and oversee the work of several specialists. But ultimately, it's his creation, and he remained the perfectionist-in-chief.

"I take pride in my technical skill," Corman says, "and I want people to be impressed by the craftsmanship."

Corman, who grew up in Wisconsin and Chicago, began sculpting miniature custom hot rods out of clay when he was a teenager. He was inspired by the outlandish wheeled creations of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Kenny "Von Dutch" Howard. His artistic sensibilities, meanwhile, were shaped by the surreal cartoons of master animators Tex Avery and Chuck Jones.

After attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Corman moved east and spent four years developing his technical skills at the Johnson Atelier in Mercerville, N.J., near Trenton.

Corman is reluctant to reveal the price of CaddyCorner, except to say "mid-six figures." It will be heading to Kuwait at the end of the month. Its new owner operates a General Motors dealership there and intends to display the sculpture outdoors, where it's sure to attract attention, delight car shoppers, and push some iron off the lot.