Artist’s Spidey Sculpture Is Also A Love Letter

Via Ted.com and  ComicVine.

Artist Hetain Patel recently made a statue of Spider-Man. But it’s not just a statue. It’s also a love letter to Spider-Man. Written all over the statue are the artist’s words thanking the character for being an influence for him as a kid.

From the Ted.com write-up:

“Dear Peter Parker, There are a few things I’d like to thank you for. First and foremost thank you for making a mask to cover your face. Thank you for making a suit to cover every inch of your skin. Because of this, I too can be Spider-Man without having to be the Asian Spider-Man or the Indian Spider-Man.”

From a distance, “Letter to Peter Parker” may seem relatively simple. But when you get up close, things get interesting. “The text repeats over and over and essentially thanks Peter Parker for all the reasons I used to relate to him as a kid,” says Hetain Patel. “He helped make me who I am today.”

Patel used fabric paint to create this work. Some of the other things for which he thanks Spider-Man: “Thank you for being skinny and wearing glasses. Thank you for being too shy to talk to girls. Thank you for being bullied and for having the shit knocked out of you.”

Why Spider-Man? “I just feel like he’s more vulnerable than a lot of other superheroes like Batman or Superman,” says Patel. “I think Marvel got it so right with Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He is essentially modeled on all the nerdy kids like me that read the comics.”

You can see more images at the Ted.com site. Heads-up to Puny Parker from our message boards for sending me this!

–George Berryman!