Artist Gary Smith is a closet comic-book collector.
Literally.When he swings open closet doors in his Highland studio, comic strips of Krazy Kat, Red Ryder and Prince Valiant fill the walls.
He'd need a pretty big closet to house his latest project, however: a 15-foot-tall, 6,000-pound bronze statue of Superman for the town square in Metropolis, Ill.
Smith, famous for rugged, rural portraits of Americans, just may have sealed his legacy. From June 1, 1993, until he dies, he just may be known as the guy who did the Superman statue.
"Yes, it's quite possible Superman will be what I'll be known for," he says. "I've already received more comments about it than any piece of art I've ever done."
Indeed, everything about the statue - including the story around it - is larger than life. According to reports, there's an 80 percent chance President Clinton will be on hand in Metropolis in three weeks when the statue is unveiled. There are plans to have Jazz player Karl Malone transport the statue in his famous truck, to have Harley-Davidson motorcycle clubs escort the convoy and to have all the television networks on hand to cover its arrival in a couple of weeks.
Getting from Utah to Illinois, of course, will be a straight shot out I-80. But the road that led from Metropolis to Gary Smith's Utah door was a long and winding one. Nevertheless, once the city and the sculptor hooked up, it was a match made on Krypton.
For years, Metropolis has had a 7-foot, fiberglass likeness of Superman on display. It attracted so much attention that Metropolis began smelling a bonanza. When they learned a large, bronze statue in Hollywood had been cast at a Utah County foundry, they got in touch with Utah artists. Smith, who had been doing small, limited-edition statues of Alley Oop and Red Ryder, jumped at the chance to do "the No. 1 American icon."
Now the Man of Steel is a man of bronze - with a burnished patina red, yellow and blue paint job that will knock your eyes out.
"The first models I did were based on the Superman I grew up with in the '50s - kind of a soft, normal-looking Superman," says Smith. "But DC Comics wanted him to be more contemporary, so I made the head smaller and added lots of mass to the muscles. As I have him now, he looks pretty monumental."
Metropolis city fathers - realizing they have a public relations coup on their hands - have now contracted to add a Superman museum and fly in one of the finest collections of Superman memorabilia to be housed there.
"Now that it's finished," says Smith, "it's even more impressive than I thought it would be. The colors are wonderful and the size is very striking."
Local interest has been so intense, in fact, that Smith is sponsoring a special press conference and "viewing" for the press.
"Superman really is the great American icon," says Smith. "His motto is truth, justice and the American way. What could be more American than that? For years I've been producing solitary figures of strong American `types.' Superman is our best-known solitary figure of strength. That's why I did it."
One gets the impression, however, that this isn't the culmination of a grand career for Gary Smith. No, he seems to be on the threshold of national recognition, fame and fortune.
It happens to people who learn to bend steel in their bare hands.