Part 12 – Hanging Tiles

Necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case solution. Following one of my sculpture shows, I received some great constructive suggestions. Despite liking my sculptures, many didn’t know where to put them to keep out of reach of children or pets, or just that they lacked free surfaces to display them. This seems to be a common Montreal mindset, from what I’ve been told by some gallery and art agent friends. So, I started a series of wall hanging sculptures. What follows are the beginnings of those tiles.

You may see the influence of African and Polynesian tribal masks and you’d be right. In reviewing the notes on the sketches drawn for these, I was reminded of another inspiration. The long pointed chins and musical faces were an expression of the Medieval jester. Pretend surprise and a smirking wisdom of knowing more than is seen on the face. Like the old jester and modern clown, there is much more expressed in these faces than immediately obvious. Look into them and maybe you’ll see how I’ve found Picasso’s mischief for each one.