Eleven Months - the Trickster

While I didn’t post here for nearly eleven months I was undergoing a series of changes in how I produce art and how I approach myself. I’ve done a lot of intensive journaling and depth psychology sessions, uncovering a cast of internal characters. Some of them are parts of me - many lost or buried or suppressed decades ago. Others seem to be more complex, and from within and without both. The Trickster is one of these more complex, more collaborative characters. He has become a guide to me in many ways. I will probably post and talk about him more in the future.

For now I will say that I made a set of maquette pieces that channel something of his energy. He is broad faced and colorful, with powerfully expressive features that remind me of some of my Hungarian ancestors. In my internal sessions he has a head full of dreadlocks… He is not showing those here. These pieces are more about his spirit than his literal appearance.

These maquettes were made over several months, always starting with blind drops of the pieces, and never lasting longer than needed to photograph them. They are as ephemeral as words spoken, or perhaps more like gestures made.

The first image below is actually a Deep Middle painting which included imagery of the Trickster (teasing me about my fear of the thorns of life). The maquettes grew out of the painting.

Here the pieces are uncut.

I owe the inspiration for the spatulas to our oldest son, who includes one in nearly all of his art.

He is in many places and many faces at once…