Janus head series
JANUS the bearded or beardless god of gateways, time, thresholds and endings. I chose to invoke the spirit of doorways, beginnings and transitions, at times abstract, concrete, sacred and profane.
I fashioned Janus, sculpted my own double faced vessels that could talk about theatre, masks, drag and sci-fi. Janus echoes the art of Maiolica pottery brought to Sicily by the Arabic community. The Moorish Heads or “Teste di Moro” depict a thousand year old tragedy of a gruesome, heterosexual love affair in Palermo.
I queered Janus, doused him in my glazes and fantasies, giving an alchemical make up. All varying in their colour and style, with drippy, hi-gloss glaze, crying, gushing watery tears, hollowed out, some with candles, others plants.
I multiplied Janus so to have a community where each has a charm and their power is their difference.
These ventriloquist vessels are adjacent bodies, relations, relatives, lovers or strangers within proximity. An absence and presence of people who we carry daily; in our bodies, in our minds. They could also be the same person carrying weight of their former and forecoming self, shed like skin, a formative or harrowing shadow. Movement, transformation and change are interconnected.
My “Janiform” heads possess a kind of attitude that speaks of “both/and” rather than “either/or.” An indication of dualism, a formal contradiction.
I heard about a child living alongside a Janus who kept rotating it. They could be a pathway of childhood to adulthood and an acknowledgment of how some people are forced to live a second adolescence. They co-habit with real people.
They are good listeners.
Please inquire if you are interested in commissioning one, I think they bring luck to be around them!
eothen.stearn@gmail.com
