Tall Random and Non-Random Atavism Columns

Stacked Hexagram Atavism

Atavism made of stacked hexagrams (in the sense of six-pointed stars, not I Ching symbols) with vaguely Muppet-like eyes.

Unhappy Penis Column

I've been saving this strange and embarrassing clay object for a special day and today is that day. I would like to make it clear that I didn't sit down at the pottery studio one day in 2009 and say, "I'm going to make an unhappy penis column." It just happened.

Now, let us never speak of this again.

Cthulhu Column and Cthulhu Atavism

Lovecraft was not a religious man, but he knew how to create a god who was really worth fearing. Not a Middle Eastern volcano god whose ego burned away the rest of his pantheon. Not a doomed hippie preaching to his chosen ethnic group. Cthulhu is a divine glorification of every fearsome unknown entity that may or may not be lurking in obscure corners of our planet or our universe.

Perry

I like these small sculptures because they're fast and easy and unlikely to be damaged. I call them atavisms. This atavism is named Perry after the Butthole Surfers song, and also possibly the character from Home Movies. It also reminds me of the cover to Crass' Penis Envy album.

It's about loving yourself. It's about loving your mum. It's about loving your dad. It's about doing the things. It's about going to the go-kart track. It's about loving everything - your pup, your kitty, all the things, the cat food, the little bits of crayons, the melted pieces, the loving friends, all the things you wish you had.

Twisted Columns

These are small twisted columns with grotesque faces and spiral hats. There is also the bowl end of a pipe that broke which stayed on my shelf for about a year before I decided to glaze it and hopefully abandon it somewhere interesting.

Spider Column

It doesn't look much like a spider, but it has a spider's countenance, or at least I think so. I like this sculpture because the "horns" are small coils of clay pushed through holes in the top part of the head and curved upward while the clay was still soft.

Vision Quest

Today I went on a vision quest in Saguaro National Park. I entered an altered state of consciousness and left two clay objects behind as offerings to the spirits of the desert plant life in exchange for their advice on various matters of great importance in my life.

I parked at the Valley View trail off of Hohokam Road, and walked along the road almost to where it reaches a dead end at Golden Gate Road. There, I crossed the boundary into the maze of arroyos and left the smaller clay object at the base of a towering saguaro.

I continued along the wash, eventually finding a certain monolithic stone outcropping. I left a second offering, my second attempt at a Cthulhu Madonna. I attempted to recreate the piece because one mouth tentacle broke off the original. The second one lacked the beatific expression of the original; furthermore, the headpiece became detached from the head and was incorrectly placed by whomever loaded the kiln.

Angry Nun in the Middle

Here is the perfect clay object to buy for someone who is tired of neckties, photo frames, and dildos as birthday gifts (and who among us isn't): a vaguely cthuloid shape with an angry nun in the middle, surrounded by a rogue's gallery of frogs and skulls.

Happy May Day. Workers of the world, untie!

Grell Shroom #2

Here is the second shroom sculpture to incorporate the grell brain mold. "What is a grell?" you may ask. Here is your answer, along with the first grell shroom.

Protoshroom

This is the first of my recent shrooms. It was inspired by the killer mushrooms in American McGee's Alice, which lie dormant until you approach them, and then suck you into their toothy maws, chew you up, and shoot you out the top, all the while spewing poisonous spores.

I had a rounder, firmer mushroom cap in mind, but the clay was too soft and the shape I cut out was too unstable so it collapsed into a pancake-like mass.

Comical Horror Face, Black Skull, Charles Manson

These are three more trendy flat hanging sculptures. The first one I have labeled as "White Pimple Face" or "Comical Horror Face." The second one is a atavistic black skull which could also be used as a one-time-use clay knuckle weapon. The third one is an interpretation of Charles Manson, complete with a right-pointing swastika on his forehead.

Evil Clown, Gibbon, and Green Devil

These flat clay images with a hole for hanging were all the rage in my circle in Tucson last year. Not really, since I don't have a circle, and if I did they probably wouldn't be into flat clay images of clowns, gibbons, and green devils, but it's what I was making about a year ago. They're less threatened by the terrors of gravity than the larger pieces. The survival rate is higher.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I can't remember if the middle object is supposed to be a gibbon or a lemur. Believe me, I'm fully aware of how inexcusable that is. I feel like my brain is turning to shit.

Fear

This is another experiment in sympathetic magick. After my experience with the Centipede Fetish, I wanted to make another sculpture to represent fear and then destroy it after having achieved an altered state of consciousness. I tried to make it ugly enough that I wouldn't mind destroying it, but it hasn't happened yet.

{2022.  It happened.  Purged.  And yet fear persists.}

The Fear sculpture uses the centipede mold and Barbie's squished face mold.

Fetal Skull Column

Created a few years ago when I was in massage school and my life was deeply steeped in human anatomy, this sculpture combines all the appeal of an unborn baby's skull with the lazy, utilitarian attraction of a clay column.

Worm Giraluna

Giralunas (a play on the Spanish word for sunflower, girasol) are undead-like plants from Leo Lionni's alternate universe botany textbook, Parallel Botany. This one is made with a worm or caterpillar mold for the tendrils.

I made it during the year-long period that my pottery studio was located at the teacher/founder's home, after we were evicted from the warehouse by the railroad tracks, before our later homes on 4th Avenue and Dodge Avenue. The greenware (unbisqued) giraluna amazingly survived a year and a half in the hostile environment of Tucson weather with only minor damage.

Meat Torso

This sculpture has "AN 97" carved into its base, which are my initials, but it's not my work. I bought it at a thrift store a few years ago. I would love to see some of my work for sale for $7 at a thrift store and now that I think about it, it's an option for unloading some heavy, fragile clay objects before I move.

Warthog Column

Another column sculpture inspired by African animal life. I once touched a warthog at the Berlin Zoo. The warthog's broad, flat face felt oily and bristly, but it chose not to surgically remove my fingers. I also had a llama spit in my face in Barcelona for invading its personal space.

Giraffe Column

This is one of my favorite sculptures. I love how the eyelashes came out. I like the very giraffe-like expression on its face. I like the contrast of the glazes for the body (Queens) and the spots (Stony Gray).

Centipede Fetish

This is a statue of a centipede bodhisattva. It lacks anatomical correctness in that four pairs of legs is considered less than well-endowed among centipedes, but at least it has one pair of legs per body segment, which separates centipedes from millipedes, which have two pairs per segment. I made it as a part of an experiment in evocation. Achieve an altered state of consciousness by whatever method that works well, anoint the fetish with some symbolic fluid, and give it a task. This construct's task was to seek out industry secrets and bring them back to me. The experiment appeared to be a failure, but after quitting my recent job, I noticed a striking similarity between the owner of the business and a venomous, nightmarish desert creatures that lives under rocks. The industry secrets imparted by said boss were cynical and depressing but maybe he was merely an evoked entity acting on my own orders. I was tempted to destroy the statue in order to symbolically sever all ties with that particular company and amoral individual, but I like the sculpture too much.

Fetish in the title of this post refers to an object which one treats as sentient until it begins to act as such, usually for some esoteric purpose, not to a non-human object of sexual desire.