There was a “pop-up shop” in Newport News that I visited over the holidays which was selling a range of gifts, including paintings, sculpture, clothing, jewelry, and other assorted arts and crafts. There were a series of small sculptures – I’m guessing by the same artist – that featured what I might politely call “unattractive” men. You’ll see we have a purple “Mouseketeer” here below, along with an assortment of clowns and brooding figures. They’re certainly well made, nicely crafted, and the artist has creative skills. But I would think one would need to have a particular taste in art in order to want to live with these guys (“live” in the sense of having it on a shelf in your home, and seeing it every day). No disrespect intended; I see these as curiosities, and they certainly qualify as “conversation starters.”
I think I like the guy with the heavy eyebrows (at bottom left) best of all … I guess my initial reaction came from the fact that the purple mouseketeer seen above was in fact a full-frontal nude (I conveniently cropped the picture to keep this post rated PG). He’s the one that I think might have a hard time finding a new home. The rest of these guys? Well, they’re a bit kitschy, but I could see them growing on me in some way.