Here is a periodic update of things that I'm doing in the studio and other things that have piqued my curiosity. Read on.
What are you working on, Robin?
Sept. 15, 2009. What would you do with the following items: An apple, some rope, a dollhouse - sized china cabinet and a doll head. Here's a photo of these odds and ends that I've collected over the past few months. I had a few old apples that were going bad and I was curious about those apple dolls they make in the midwest (truth be told--I described an acquaintance as "...she looks kind of like an apple doll.") So I tried to make some. They each came out with a different expression and personality, even though they have one thing in common: they are gruesomely weathered.
And here's a photo of one of the apple heads.
Stay tuned for the transformation
July 30, 2009. Well, I'm starting to get a little color on these guys. They're really growing on me. As I work on these, my idea of them has matured from a fun, decorative project into a commentary on the nature of masculinity. Men who show other men what "success" looks like. Then the rest of us try to emulate it...or is it that the women in our lives talk us into the way we look.
July 9, '09. I love incorporating found images, mostly of people, into my work. See my 'inspirations' collection for some of these. I recently came across a place called ONE DOLLAR BOOKSTORE. Guess what they sell. It's a truly amazing place. Thousands of books of every type, each for a dollar. I got a World Book Encyclopedia from 1982--Volume 15 'P' for a dollar. I'm going to cut out pictures and diagrams out of it. I also got this book for a dollar
I fell in love with a photo of John Woodworth who was the first U. S. Surgeon General in 1870. I've become a bit obsessed with his face.
You'll see his likeness in a few of my mixed media pieces in the 'Inspirations" collection (click here). Every time i sit down to do one of those I've found myself moving back to this character. I use a lot of fashion magazines for inspiration, too. I suppose it was inevitable that these two should collide. I'm now obsessed with the idea of John Woodworth as a male model. Here are a few images of the start of a new series:
