ART Artists are not often given the opportunity to fill an entire museum with their work. Hardly any are asked to start from scratch and produce 80-plus pieces in 14 months. Yet it was just this challenge that, in January 1989, led PETER CARSILLO to leave his studio in Los Angeles for Grand Prairie’s Palace of Wax.
Carsillo, 24, has been working professionally with wax figures since he was 18, when he got his first job at the Hollywood Wax Museum.
“At first I think they [the Palace of Wax owners] were going to hire a few artists. “he recalls, “but when they visited my studio we hit it off pretty well, and they eventually offered me the chance to do the entire collection. “
What that meant was creating close to 85 wax figures and having them ready for the grand opening in April 1990. To pull it off, Carsillo says, he and two assistants worked 14-hour days, seven days a week, during that span.
Carsillo’s process involves detailed measurements and working closely with photographs to produce the eerily lifelike fiberglass figures. Once the shape is complete, hair is inserted and the figure is painted- the most “artistic” aspect, according to Carsillo. His creations range from the Three Stooges to Gandhi, and his personal favorites are CLINT EASTWOOD and the creature from the movie Alien. The Texas Baseball Hall of Fame commissioned a statue of NOLAN RYAN, currently on exhibit at Dallas’s Hall of State.
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