The idea for this portrait in bronze started simply - I made a wax cast of my face from a *mold that I had taken from a plaster life mask of myself. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but knew that it would have to be supported it in some way. Extending the neck was a start to solving the support problem, but I also needed to find a way to finish the back side of the face in order to bring the composition full circle.
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As I looked to the wax mask for answers, an image slowly started to emerge from the back side of the mask - the natural contours of the inside surface of the wax cast seemed to contain the vague suggestion of a human figure. As I added wax to bring out the form, the prominence of the sizable buttocks and the extreme bend of the back immediately appealed to my sense of humor. I saw the figure back-bending behind the face and my mind was off and running... I would shrink the figure's head and elongate the the limbs to emphasize the illusion of depth in the space behind the face. Support and composition problems solved ... with the added bonus of a surprise 'ending'. I have my own explanations and interpretations of the piece, I leave viewers to come up with their own.
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* Note: The mold for this face mask was also used multiple times to create my clay 'Portrait of the Artist'. Image can be viewed in the Ceramic page of the Sculpture section of my website, as well as in the Slideshow section.
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