Ned Troide.

The Force

Jack Daniels Drinking Fountain

Link.

Thanks to Mae.

Edit: Umm, after some investigation (and a much appreciated link posted in the comments) this story has really taken a horrible twist. I was unaware of the guy’s full story.

A brief synopsis…

Then, five years later gets convicted of RAPE & ATTEMPTED MURDER.

Time Served.

Then makes furniture.

(Please correct me if I’m wrong.)

RE-EDIT: After some sleuthing from a commenter, the furniture is actually designed by Paul Davies.

From the artist’s site:

“Ned Troide is a Real-Imagined character. He is real  in that he really is the world champion of the video game Defender, he really did score 72,999,975 points in 62 and half hours, and he really did appear in Life magazine’s 1982 edition of The Year in Pictures. He is imaginary  in that he didn’t make this furniture (I did), and the character portrait that is painted with this furniture, the narrative that you imagine, is just that: imaginary.

I have always been interested in human follies, especially follies that come about from technology. Ned’s furniture explores the current cultural schism of mass produced goods from China and Sweden (which is really from China) vs locally crafted unique objects. Ned wants the things he wants and those things cannot be bought at Wal-Mart, or Target or Ikea. We see this schism played out in our culture today through the Maker and Crafter movements (if you can’t open it you don’t own it).

The other aspect of this work artistically, an aspect that I feel represents a growth in my practice as an artist is the creation of a narrative through objects. I am trying to create a story of a character (Ned Troide) through sculptures and the interactivity of them. When you eat a hot dog from the Weiner Roller, you are Ned Troide, you become him. You and I imagine him and become this character through the shared experience of the interactions: the fatty juice of the hotdogs running down our chins, the wobbly knees of the over sampling of the Jack Daniels Fountain, the enveloping experience of The Force.

Paul Davies, June 2008″

The artist doesn’t make mention of Ned Troide’s murderous ways. I don’t know what to say about that.