1995—1998 • WHO DO YOU LOVE?
This series (completed through the course of three years) uses intricate brass castings and original oil paintings of portraits masked and de-gendered as focal points in each piece. Much like in Hesses’s, “Steppenwolf”— this work is a sardonic journey through the subconscious focusing on the abstract concept of romantic ‘love’ as experienced by the individual and society.
This work looks to the stage and the Theater of the Absurd with an eye on humankind’s relationship to love, to nature, to society. Each piece expresses the literary dynamics of protagonist vs. antagonist. The characters are masked, and androgynous in order to portray a universal anonymity.
They are often portrayed simply by head and by heart. Imagery such as fruits, mirrors, spheres, metal eggs, stones, wish bones, coins and chalets combine to tell a story rich in metaphor. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the surrealistic style of Hieronymus Bosch, 1500. The introduction of the head carvings can be attributed most definitely to the influence of the contemporary artist John Frame. His unrestricted use of refined and detailed carvings paved the way to expand on the technical and conceptual potential of mixed media. The result is a person assemblage of fabricated imagery and objects that ultimately pokes fun at the obstacles and predicaments that confront us in passion, relationships and romantic love.
“Sometimes reflection on love becomes the ideology of a society; then we find ourselves in the presence of a way of life, an art of living and dying, an ethic, an aesthetic and an etiquette.” —“The Double Flame”, Octavio Paz.
©Michele Ogilvie, 2009—All Rights Reserved.