REFLECTIONS FROM WITHIN

HOW IT CAME TO BE

THIS piece was a challenge by my wife, I wanted to make her a gift that she wanted. A gargoyle, not to be a snob, but gargoyles have been dune to death. So, I thought deep on what a gargoyle is, I thought what could have been put to the first artist ever to create this item way back when. I looked at what it says as a piece of art, it said classic gothic art, and from that thought my multi- year project started. No, I didn’t obsess over this for a couple of years I casually obsessed over this then it hit me. I studied hundreds of photos at the library, it’s not about the sculptures or the paintings it’s about what it says about the viewer. If you look at gothic art, they usually seem to be very intense. Intense colors and dramatic, images are surreal fantasy. Think about a time in history 14- 1500’s. A period when strangers would come to your home looking for shelter (this is of course before the motel 6 or even Holiday inn) it just wouldn’t be polite to tell them to move on. You really couldn’t go by their dress, hell, they may be wearing the last persons clothes they came in contact with never mind a smudge of blood. You look at tells, (subconscious tics) and size them up that way. A gargoyle is neither good nor evil it’s only a sculpture, it’s what the viewer sees in it that is a reflection of their nature. So, with all this in mind, I tried to come up with something, then, one day I’m doing what I do best watching old movies when I saw it at the beginning of the movie Journey to the center of the earth, were the young assistant gave the professor a gift. It was an old-time ink well made from ram’s horns. Years earlier, someone gave me a set of horns that were mounted on a plaque I was like OMG it rolled from there. Although I have no intension of selling this piece (gift for the wife). I have displayed it in my previous shows, and the reactions were interesting, let me put it this way, I was able to see people for who they really are.