Larry King crops up in field
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
EAST MADISON — Larry King looks inquisitively, even provocatively, out at space from a isolated hay field near Art School Road.
Photo courtesy of Daniel BozhkovA crop face in the likeness of television journalist Larry King, measuring roughly 300-by-250 feet, is shown in an East Madison field. click to enlarge 
Staff photo by DAVID LEAMINGDaniel Bozhkov drags a piece of plywood Wednesday to demonstrate how he flattened hay for his Larry King creation in a field in East Madison. click to enlarge
Roughly 300-by-250 feet, the eerily precise likeness formed of pushed-down vegetation stares upward to mystify the passing pilot or hot air balloonist.
But unlike the authors of mysterious patterns left in fields of wheat or other crops, creator and conceptual artist Daniel Bozhkov is happy to explain he made the work using a 3-by-6 foot piece of quarter-inch plywood.
He calls his work "Learn How to Fly over a Very Large Larry," and he says it addresses the phenomenon of the almost universal influence of the media, specifically CNN talk show host Larry King.
Bozhkov, originally from Bulgaria, is an instructor at the internationally known Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
While he had once considered creating the work in a empty parking lot next to a Skowhegan mall that once housed a Kmart, he said he likes the mythic nature of crop circles.
"I personally think that the myth is kind of a way of getting knowledge," he said.
Bozhkov and fellow artist Kathryn Chan spent the past three weeks on the portrait, sometimes working 10 hours a day and often rising at 4 a.m. to avoid the noonday sun.
They used strings, sticks and boards to meticulously plot out the journalist's features and the plywood to push down the mixture of timothy and milkweed.
"This is the left suspender here," he said, standing in what appeared to be a 30-by-70 foot avenue in the field.
The field, ringed by poplars and maple trees, is reachable only by foot.
Bozhkov said the owner gave his permission on the condition that he not cut the hay.
From ground level, the work looks unspectacular, but Bozhkov said he has noticed an increase in the number of small planes flying over the site.
When he finally got the chance to view the work from the air, Bozhkov said he was pleased to see the face is recognizable. Positioning the eye and the angle of the mouth just right was critical, he said.
"To achieve that precision on a large scale was one of the challenges," he said.
Bozhkov got the idea while traveling.
"I travel quite a bit around the world and wherever you go, (Larry King) is there in everybody's living room," he said.
Bozhkov said that about a year-and-a-half ago, he began to muse about how the same man was asking the same questions of the same people all over the world and in the process imparting his own peculiar perspective.
"You get to know what (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair thinks about something, but you get to know it through Larry King," he said.
It is a subtle influence but one of enormous scale.
"You need a real distance to get the proper perspective of things as big as Larry King," he said.
Alan Crowell — 474-9534, Ext. 342 acrowell@centralmaine.com