DOLLS
My mixed-media sculptural figures are ancestral archetypes - complicated, strong-minded, big-mouthed creatures that come to us from a world that is fierce, bejeweled, effervescent! In their faces, torsos, and limbs, I explore more than the ordinary body. Some have talons for fingers and toes, or sport highly tattooed bodies. Others wear costumes that are glittery, glossy, textured adventures. Divine and magical, they blend the worlds of fable and memoir, and suggest the influence of headdresses, adorned masks, marionettes, and initiates into a secret society where super-figures wield power.
Ranging in size from 1- 5 ft. high, they are assembled from recycled fabric, wire, and an assortment of objects I find while hunting through flea markets, yard sales, antique stores, and vintage clothing shops anywhere from Harlem to India. Geographic places power my ideas, sometimes visiting memories of sites I haven’t seen in decades. Beirut, Lebanon, where I lived in the 1970s, frequenting the covered market, where I wandered through stalls and alleyways in awe of all I didn’t understand, but wanted to touch.
My work is influenced by some of the great visual artists, musicians, and writers of the 20th century . Musician Ornette Coleman’s theory of Harmolodics helps me rethink foreground and background relationships. Saxophonist John Coltrane’s deep exploration of one simple idea until it naturally leads to the next one has always been my muse. Novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Mystical Realism that steps unabashedly into unseen worlds can be felt through some of my figures. Assemblage artist Betye Saar’s mixed-media from the late 1960s and early 1970s stridently announcing the beauty, power, and self-assurance of the female body in all its extraordinary darkness and boldness has always guided me. Nigerian painter Twins Seven-Seven’s fantasy-meets-cultural-criticism paintings were early influences on me too, especially those paintings where birds come out of women’s heads and children have multiple appendages.