STROUGH
by Ric Rood
Although his paintings are joyful celebra­
tions, David Strough says he is a sculptor, not
a painter. “ I paint when I don’t have a place to
work."
David needs lots of room to create his
sculptures, some of which illustrate the ar­
favorite, the Teddy Bear. What he needs is
headroom to accommodate the artifacts.
One such artifact is “the infamous ten foot
pole,’ a fallacy found in Poland by Sir Some­
thing or other,” according to Strough's
emerging treatise on the Phallacian cultures.
Strough says that the viewer of the artifacts
m ust also know something about the Phalla­
cian history in order to understand the mean­
ing of the sculptures. The sculptures,
Strough says, "are amusing. There is so
much that is unjoyful. Even the art com m un­
ity in Portland is.”
The Ten Foot Pole
Though now only four feet tall, the fallacy is
believed to be the last remaining fragment of
the once monumental and mythic “Ten Foot
Pole.” According to ancient myths, the early
Polish tribes of the region, knowing nothing
of the fallacian culture that originally erected
the fallacy, believed it to be a magic talisman
with curative powers. It was believed that if
you were blind or had hair growing on the
palms of your hands, as many of the tribe’s
people did, all you had to do to be cured was
to rub the fallacy a few times each day. Over
the years this rubbing reduced the ten foot
pole to its present height but did not cure a
single person. However, foreign visitors to
Poland, seeing all these blind people with
hairy palms around the ancient fallacy, as­
sumed tht it was the fallacy that caused them
to be blind and have hairy palms. To this very
day there are people that say if you rub a
fallacy you will go blind and hair will grow on
your palms.
cheology of the Fallacian culture. David him ­
self doesn’t need much room; in physical
stature, he isn’t much bigger than his current
Fay Rows
A single hereditary line, the Fays, ruled the
phallacian culture from beginning to end.
When a new Fay ascended the throne, each
province of the Phallacian Kingdom would
erect a m onum ent to their new leader. As the
lineage of royal Fays ensued, so the rows of
Fay monuments lengthened. Even after the
splendor that was the phallacian culture had
been reduced to mere myth, these rows of
Fay monuments still spoke eloquently of the
grandure that was the Fays.
Eons hence during the great Egyptian
epoch, when the first Egyptian God Kings
were being ordained, it was decided to name
these rulers after the mythic phallacian rulers.
Unfortunately, by this tim e the Fays had be­
com e confused with the rows of Fay monu­
ments that had been erected to honor them,
so instead of the Egyptians naming their
leaders Fays they named them Fay rows.
Later this was mistranslated to Pharoas.
* * * * *
from Dissertations on the Phallacian
Cultures by David Strough
All of the fallacies are made of wood. Some
are gaily painted. Some are unfinished. The
falalcies are obviously created with loving
care.
Strough says he has encountered some
difficulty in attracting interest at Portland art
galleries. He is currently negotiating with one
of two galleries which have shown positive
reactions to his work.
David has shown his paintings at Wilde
Oscar’s and CC Slaughter's among other
places in Portland.
Just Out February 3-February 17