About the Artwork
Comic Bolt is a striking 7-foot tall steel sculpture, meticulously created by John P. in 2024. This dynamic piece is inspired by the vivid and dramatic lightning bolts often seen in comic books. The sculpture is laser cut from steel, with no straight lines in its profile—only gracefully curved panels, welded together to create a seamless and fluid form.
The entire structure is powder coated in a mesmerizing gold flake color, giving it a dazzling finish that captures and reflects light, enhancing its visual impact. Designed to be sub-surface mounted on the ground, Comic Bolt creates the illusion of a lightning bolt striking the earth, defying gravity and leaving viewers wondering what holds it up.
This artwork embodies the energy and intensity of a lightning strike, brought to life in a tangible, awe-inspiring form. It stands as a testament to the fusion of industrial craftsmanship and artistic vision, transforming raw steel into a symbol of power and brilliance.
Artist Statement
Making of the Piece
Although John typically captures ideas in sketches on paper, the day the concept for Comic Bolt was born he had only his cell phone, and clumsily sketched the idea in a digital notepad. This was the original “reminder” sketch.
That rough sketch transformed into a full 3 dimensional rough model which allowed for determining scale, center of mass, and doing analysis to ensure it was designed for long term safety and durability.
After the design was complete, the parts are laser cut from prime US manufactured steel. Each part is cleaned, sanded and prepared for assembly.
The parts are all fixtured to a special table to ensure flatness and perpendicularity, and meticulously fitted and tacked together.
Once the final welding is done, the entire surface is sanded and all edges ground smooth. At this point a specially designed hanging jig was bolted onto the bottom to allow the art to hang horizontally with only an attachment at the bottom of the base to allow for powder coating.
The entire roughly 400 pound sculpture is sandblasted, chemically cleaned, and then suspended for powder coating and to be fed into the giant oven to bake for half an hour at 400 degrees.
For this complex color, multiple coats of powder are required. First, a primer is applied, then a chrome layer to give the super shimmery effect.
When the freshly baked sculpture comes out for the third time, the full golden effect is in full view! And it is impossible to ignore!
Of course, this description glossed over much of the hard work that goes into preparing a museum quality piece of art. But hopefully you get the idea of the complexity and attention to detail. If you have any questions, or would like to commission a custom piece by John P. feel free to contact us.
