Circa 1989 Stephen Maxon “Taxi Trout”, Signed + Titled

Design Plus Gallery presents “Taxi Trout” by Stephen Maxon. A sculpture of brass with a sense of humor much like the artist himself (see bio below). The fish is all of bronze with the artists entire signature running across its lower body. There are portholes for windows that gives the illusion of a taxi cab or even like an airplane with its three wheel legs and dorsal fins! “Taxi Trout” is also raised bronze on its body as well. Is in good condition with patina that is consistent with age.

Artist’s Self Biography :
Born into a family of itinerant acrobats, young Stephen went lost in the western wilderness, having dropped out of the back of a medicine-show wagon. Living on snake venom and cactus thorns, the toddler was adopted and raised by wolves. Later, after being rescued by cowboys, he rode from town to town on bucking broncos searching for his parents and eking out a meager living wrestling grizzly bears.

Knighted at fourteen, he became a mercenary in Central Africa struggling to protect endangered plants and wildlife and continuing his search for his long-lost family. Laboring to discover new strains of communicable diseases, he worked tirelessly to stomp out athelete’s foot and halitosis.

He began sculpting at six months, twisting the bars of his play pen into a striking likeness of the family dog. Later he studied with Donatello, Giacommetti and Rodin, teaching the later all he knew. After years of study and toil, Maxon renounced his MFA to become an outsider artist. Finding casting much less difficult than bending steel bars with his teeth, he developed new ways of melting metal via thought control.

After making and losing several fortunes, he currently lives in a trailer in rural Iowa receiving messages from outer space in his dental fillings. He enjoys telling lies and chewing gum.