Original baseball card art
I love all things Rickey... the fact that he was born on Christmas in Chicago... talked in the 3rd person... once framed a million dollar check from the Yankees and never cashed it... and his incredibly aesthetic signature. Rickey's autograph is featured on both his 1980 Topps rookie card, and on the iconic 1982 set.
I've recreated the '82 card on this bubble gum stick. Made with acrylic paint on plywood. This piece is sold by itself, other gum sticks photographed are not included. Actual baseball card is also not included... it is only photographed for size reference.
More about my giant sticks of Topps Chewing Gum
The last card inside a junk era wax pack would often get stuck to, or stained by, the piece of gum inside. My childhood memories of chewing hard sticks of bubble gum became the inspiration for making these large scale gum sticks. My gum sticks are typically tilted by 9 degrees, as a nod to the starting 9 on the diamond.
- My gum stick paintings are done on plywood as homage to the game's wooden bats. I hand bevel the wood with a router to create the proper shape, which also captures highlights on the edges and supplies nice drop shadows on the wall.
- The sticks are painted with my own multi-layer technique, making them look realistic.
- Each gum stick measures 12" x 36" and is designed to hang on a rotated angle of 9 degrees. This represents how the gum is typically positioned imperfectly inside the package.
- Each painting ships ready to hang, with hardware already installed.
- A printed and signed description of the artwork will be attached to the back prior to shipping.
- All pieces are original artwork by yours truly, Matthew Lee Rosen.
