One of the original “guerrilla” artists behind the Emeryville Mudflat sculptures has reemerged to bring back an E’ville icon, the Red Baron (this time under more “legitimate” circumstances). Tyler Hoare, a 72 year old Berkeley resident who works out his studio in Albany, created the original piece back in 1975 when he was 35.
He unveiled his new version of the aircraft last Saturday at the Emeryville mud flats next to Chevy’s. It will join his existing Snoopy Sopwith Camel plane installation. The Red Baron and Sopwith Camel planes each measure about 12 x 10 x 6 ft., and last typically five years before the elements devour them or the pier post that support them give way. He normally has the planes facing south but this time will have them facing each other in a midair dogfight (Watch this YouTube video to jog your memory). “I couldn’t tell you where the World War I thing came,” Hoare said. “When I was thinking about that post, I was thinking a banana. No, no, no.” Instead, he went with the plane. He hasn’t quite put (as the song goes) “10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more” out there, but he has created an East Bay treasure. | Marin Independent Journal »
