Art of the Impossible

Fort Myers artist Terence Flannery has an intriguing résumé. The Englishman has been a coal miner, British Army musician, big-band trombonist, radio-show regular, comedian and Holly-wood prop maker. With such a diverse background, it's little wonder that his art is so multidimensional.

A few of his patriotic pieces appear to have been crafted from sturdy, indust-rial metals draped with a flag. But in fact they're made of wood faux-painted to look like iron or bronze covered with cloth. Or consider the figure seated at a piano, in a Bonita Springs home, with a strong resemblance to Elton John, wearing big glasses, a gap-toothed grin and a newly sprouted mop of hair. It's really a mannequin that Flannery fit with a head he sculpted to look like the pop star. "Nothing is as it appears," Flannery is fond of saying of his art.

A relative newcomer to Southwest Florida, the gentlemanly Brit and new U.S. citizen is working hard to sell his pieces. After all, his art is his business and vice versa. Although one local gallery operator told Flannery his creations were "too over the top" for showing, he's gaining notoriety at other galleries.

"I think people find his art amusing, interesting and colorful," says Laverne Phillips, past president and board member of Sanibel Island's Big Arts, where he has exhibited pieces. "He hasn't been here that long, but he's developed a following."

Born in Manchester, England, Flannery calls himself a graduate of the "University of Life." Aside from his brief coal-mining stint, Flannery's path has followed a creative route. His musical talents accompanied him through the military as a teen-ager and later onto the airwaves. He played trombone and sang in big bands, including two years with Bob Miller and the Millermen Band on BBC radio's Parade of the Pops. And he did some stand-up comedy, described as "satirical, social commentary."

But he also enjoyed producing humorous art, whimsically painted furniture and musical cartoons. The demand for that work ultimately caused Flannery to spend less time on music and even less on comedy.

In 1992, Flannery moved to Hollywood, where he worked as wood-shop manager at Modern Props, a movie-prop company. One of his specialties was making futuristic-looking consoles that could be used on spaceships, blinking lights and all. He assembled the endoskeleton from Terminator so it could be displayed at a Universal Studios ride based on the film. Also at Modern Props, Flannery worked with cold-cast resin, used in making toy action figures.

Another high-profile project: creation of a 900-square-foot mural on a ceiling at TV funnyman Drew Carey's home. The process called for Flannery to paint stars, nebulae and constellations on the ceiling with ultraviolet paint that glows when a black light is used in the darkened room. He erected scaffolding, lay on his back and used pointed dowels to dot on the stars, kind of like a modern-day Michelangelo. He also oversaw installation of 10,000 strands of fiber optics into holes in the surface, thus providing twinkling and shooting-star effects. The $175,000 job took months. "The architect said it was too far over the top," Flannery recalls. "But when Drew Carey saw it, he said, 'I've been to Death Valley and this is what it's like at night.'"

About three years ago, Flannery moved to Southwest Florida after a visit; he fell for the laid-back lifestyle. He also thought it would be a great place for his son, Luc, to attend high school. "L.A. was a tough place," he says.

Upon his arrival, he and his partner, sculptor Becki Babb, began operating out of a 900-square-foot space at a south Fort Myers industrial park. The workshop-studio became filled to the rafters with his work. Various saws and power tools were mounted to benches, and the air took on the scents of sawdust and oil paint.

The soft-spoken Flannery, clad in jeans and a T-shirt, greets his visitor warmly and begins pointing out his large collection of work (some of it is in photos, laid out by the dozen on a table).

One piece he's proud of is called Nine-12. It's a 50-by-40-inch bas relief map of the United States. Each state appears as a riveted metal shape. An American flag is draped over part of it and a bald eagle is at one corner, its talons looking robotic and industrial. The piece is all wood, but it's faux-painted to achieve the effect. Inspiration for Nine-12 came the day after terrorists toppled the World Trade Center towers. The eagle's claws became "like mechanical shovels that came in to begin clearing the rubble," Flannery says. He marveled at how the American people united after the tragedy.

The disastrous event occurred as Flannery approached U.S. citizenship, which he finally obtained about a year ago, and it heightened his sense of patriotism.

"This is the only country in the world where you can take citizenship and people accept you as American. I felt strongly about making the piece," he says.

Beyond his Nine-12 relief are many more pieces of a decidedly less serious nature. From a shelf, he pulls down masks formed from cold-cast resin which have caricature qualities. One is a likeness of Louis Armstrong. Another is a Huck Finn-type character.

Another of Flannery's specialties is fantasy furniture. He's designing a piece that will look like a locomotive protruding and speeding from the wall. Actually, it will be a colorful kid's dresser. Also in the works is a bunk bed fashioned after a 1960s VW Microbus.

And he still finds time to make music. Flannery plays trombone and sings with the Sanibel Island Band.

Recently, Flannery moved into a new shop in Fort Myers that he shares with two men who have computer-operated lathes. They will help him mass-produce his masks and other piecework. He also hopes to generate more business from creating lifelike sculptures of individuals, in the caricature vein, from "two inches to full-size mannequins." It could be a gift for "the man who has everything," he says. He was just commissioned by a pilot friend to create a model of a CEO "of a major airline" popping up through the cockpit of a plane with a 15-inch wingspan.

As his work continues to show up, it's certain there will be some double and triple takes. "I want my work to be constant sources of pleasure," he says. "People can see something different each time they look at it."

To contact Flannery, call 292-9267

or e-mail

tflannery262@ earthlink.net.