Energetic artist
not easily bull-whipped

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Michael Fiedler may be the last person on Earth who should be consuming Red Bull.
The Northeast Philly native, registered nurse and artist readily concedes that he has enough problems staying focused on a given task for any length of time without the extra pep supplied by the world’s top-selling energy drink.
So, under normal circumstances, it could be considered a minor miracle that Fiedler actually completed his latest 300-pound metal sculpture, for which he used about 500 empty Red Bull cans. But Fiedler not only finished the project in about six weeks, he used it to claim first place in a popular and surprisingly accomplished art competition sponsored by Red Bull.
This month, the beverage manufacturer selected the 1981 Lincoln High School grad as the winner of its annual Art of Can contest, held this year in Houston, Texas. Fiedler, who now lives in Horsham and works in the emergency room at Holy Redeemer Hospital, built a life-size bucking bull out of steel, sheet metal and all those empty Red Bull cans to claim the top prize.
Titled Unbridled, the work includes a cabinet full of dishes that the raging bovine appears about to smash to bits with a swift double kick of his hind hoofs.
Naturally, the subject is a direct representation of the proverbial "bull in a china shop." Understandably, the theme, scale and precise workmanship of the piece matched perfectly the expectations of the contest’s organizers, the aesthetic sensibilities of its judges and the high-octane marketing strategy of its sponsor.
It didn’t happen by accident.
Fiedler initially contemplated entering the 2008 contest a year in advance, after hearing of the 2007 version that was held in downtown Philadelphia last summer. The true planning began in mid-February, when organizers released this year’s rules and deadlines.
"I had to come up with an idea. I’m sitting with my wife, Kathleen, and thinking ‘energy, unbridled energy,’" Fiedler recalled. "I said, ‘What embodies unbridled energy?’ She said, ‘How about a bull in a china shop?’ And it was like, ‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’"
Fiedler took the bull and ran with it, so to speak, laying out plans on a grand scale of which neither his wife nor any of the 200 other contest entrants would conceive.
Organizers purposely left the requirements wide open. The contest was open to everyone from full-time professional artists to "simply those with a creative flair." Entrants were invited to make a sculpture, a picture, a 3-D model, a mobile, a video or a piece of abstract art.
The only real requirements were that the primary material must be a Red Bull can and that the work be "beautiful, colorful, clever, amusing and/or outrageous."
With little time to spare before the April 6 submission deadline, Fiedler got to work right away, using most of his time away from his 36-hour-a-week hospital job. His routine of three 12-hour shifts left him days off to immerse himself in the project.
Though he now works exclusively with steel and found objects, Fiedler has spent most of his life exploring a multitude of artistic mediums in similar fashion.
The son of a rock-’n’-roll drummer father and a self-taught sketch artist mother, he developed his own creative drive as a youngster, a trait that manifested itself first in drawing, then air brushing, silkscreen printing, canvas painting and tattoo artistry.
"I was starting to push forty and I was all over the place," said Fiedler, also an avid contemporary art collector. "I had always been an art outsider. I never really got into the gallery thing. I figured I had no direction, no focus."
Fiedler enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2001, in the multimedia sculpture program, and after two years he emerged with a new love.
"That’s when I held a welding torch for the first time, and I said, ‘Yes!’" he recalled. "Construction-wise, it came very easy to me, and now I love it."
He generally has a half-dozen or more projects in the works at any given time. Regardless of the concept, he always seems to go big. A 6-foot "paper" airplane made of steel is one example, as is the 2-foot pine tree air freshener also made of steel that hangs outside his front door.
Fiedler’s back yard is the setting for the in-progress Monkeys in a Barrel, featuring a human-shaped arm and hand that tower more than 10 feet above the ground.
But even within the context of those efforts, the Red Bull project would be a quadruped of a different color.
First of all, Fiedler knew that getting his hands on enough Red Bull cans for the job would raise his concept of "found materials" to previously unimaginable heights.
"I drank a fair share," he said. "I’m good for two or three a day. But if I drank all of what I used on the bull, I probably would’ve had to schedule my own cardiac catheterization."
A couple of businesses, including Chickie’s and Pete’s on Roosevelt Boulevard and a pub in Ardmore, agreed to save empties for him, as did a ton of friends and relatives.
When not slicing the tops and bottoms off of the cans and flattening the distinctive blue-and-silver cylinders into rectangles of aluminum, Fiedler turned his attention to fabricating the bull’s steel frame — a skeleton of sorts.
He then used roofing coil to complete the under-form, before affixing the individual beverage cans one by one with adhesive and countless rivets. He used sugar-free Red Bull cans, which have a lighter blue color, to create variations in the bull’s hide — it’s spots. He used steel and sculpting foam for the horns, and "branded" the beast with a black "RB" on its left hindquarters.
Fiedler finished his metal masterpiece with barely two days to spare before the deadline, leaving a weekend for him and a longtime Northeast Philly pal, Scott Excell, to deliver it to Houston via pickup truck and U-Haul. Sadly, they couldn’t get their hands on a livestock trailer on short notice.
The entire effort almost went for naught during the trip — their truck broke down in rural western Virginia. But thanks to a heaping helping of Southern hospitality, the pair were able to get a tow to a local garage at 5 a.m. on a Saturday, then get a mechanic to fix a busted fuel pump on Sunday.
Due to the circumstances, the Red Bull folks gave them an extra day to deliver the piece, which dwarfed the rest of the field.
Of those 200 or so entries from 39 U.S. states and 14 nations, 47 were selected for inclusion in the public show — held at Houston’s Galleria shopping mall from July 11 to 25. Ahead of the unveiling, Fiedler had been told he placed in the top three after judging by a panel of Houston-area gallery owners, art critics and patrons.
That Unbridled had been chosen as the cover photo for the official invitation further heightened his anticipation.
Fiedler was an instant hit upon his return to Houston with Kathleen and Scott for the exhibit-opening reception. Though the artist had to surrender his sculpture in accordance with the contest’s rules, he won a trip to Switzerland for the next Art Basel contemporary modern art show. The event is held each year in Basel, Switzerland.
He also gained a great deal of outside encouragement for his talent, as well as a stronger personal commitment to develop it further.
"I always was an art outsider," he said. "Now that I did this, I want more." ••
Visit www.steelsculpture.us for more information about Michael Fiedler.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com