Lion-Human

So what does a griffin or a chimera have in common with the latest polymer person? They are therioanthrops, therio meaning Beast and anthrop of course referring to Human (like anthropology, the study of humans). They have composite parts, early people would often make art which reflected the thinking pattern of their culture, they would imagine that the human when given animal parts would attain its attributes such as this Lion-Human I have made. She really is obviously human and female, but she has a male lion mane on her head, giving her strength and power. Without the “big hair” her sense of power is not present.

This creation was sculpted everywhere I went from the New Jersey buses to the NYC Mass transit system (mostly on the A train). As you can see, I spent some time on her face, making her more sculptural with indented pupils like they do when sculpting marble. I also spent quite some time with her TINY hands, which ironically ended up being too big for her body, but these tiny hands were made with the coiling method which looks obviously different from the mold or cut lines method. It is the most attractive way to make hands, but takes the longest.

So check out the pics, they are small but get much bigger when you click on them. Let me say that each and every strand of hair was applied by me one piece at a time, she has no bald spots, it was crazy, but it achieved the big hair look I wanted. Enjoy the power of Lion-Human.

Outrageous.

Solitude

Meet Solitude. She is the latest creation here and was made on Christmas. Solitude, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary may imply a condition of being apart from all human beings or of being cut off by wish or circumstances from ones usual associates. “A few quiet hours of solitude”.
So enjoy the quiet, calm serenity of Solitude.

clear wing

This beautiful figure is another Christmas gift, this one for Dulce's friend Pati.

It was like old times - Little Tibet makes a comeback

It was like old times yesterday when I placed the butterfly wings on the small figures with basket-nest head coverings. They were then carefully glued down into their cases and I felt like an artisan again, not an artist persay, but an artisan which is how I began making those small cubes, they will in the future hopefully be more sculptural as well, but yesterday felt like old times.
ALSO I discovered my tiny version of the red Tibetan manuscript cover girl which was in a case with other figures which broke, but she was intact, so I gave her a SPECTACULAR pair of wings, and now shes flying! Im asking people for $40 for her even though she is only like an inch tall, becuause I cannot let her go, if you will recall from this blog, she carries with her my treasured marble from Art Quest (a multi-cultural arts program that took place in 1999 at the Hermitage Foundation in Norfolk, Va) which means a lot to me. Hopefully with me she shall stay, unless someone really wants to shell out fourty bucks, the other ones are still ten.

The LUIS sculpture

Hello.

So I needed some good Christmas presents and what better way to gift someone than to make it with your own hands. That's just what I did with this LUIS sculpture. The sculpture was named so for the person it was for, I wanted to depict a strong male figure, confident and outgoing! These are the qualities I see in the real Luis. So I made a rather muscular male, and positioned him in what I consider a pose that exudes confidence in himself without being too arrogant. It began as a fleshy-colored beige and then i painted it GOLD for a more classical touch and shine. I didn't have all of my tools when making this piece so it is rather rough but that adds to the character of the piece and also to its testament of being hand made.

Mirror Slumber girl (old but new)

Hi, this latest piece is actually VERY OLD, I made this a while back when we still had the butterfly gallery, but nonetheless, she survived the move and still hadn't been baked so I baked her today. I knew she had to be made with a mirror and now that I have a mirror to set into her case she is all done. The mirror was integral due to her being very flat/low to the ground and actually very hard to see, the mirror opens up the entire composition allowing you to actually see her face clearly. I love it.
I have also included a real butterfly (farm-raised of course) on her back, this time to symbolize beauty. She is tired and fell asleep in the woods, the butterfly accentuates her beauty, no deathly themes this time :)

Impending Maternity

Hey. This latest piece I have been dreaming about making for sometime. No really, I have been wanting to make a blue figure because I wondered what it would look like if I made one NOT painted, but out of blue clay while also keeping up with my latest trend of keeping them rather sculptural. The result is a piece I absolutely love. She is a heavy set pregnant woman who holds three seeds on her hands. The three is archaic, holding allusions to the holy trinity in early Christian art. The figure being blue represents water, water is life and the seeds themselves represent the life she has sewn inside of herself which she has yet to reap the rewards of. Having children is a life changing move and this was her decision. The woman’s face is stoic, she is certain this is her uncertain future. I will likely boil the figure to give it a more rustic and less finished look, the rougher the better.
P.S. The white balance of the photos is off, she really is BLUE, not turquoise.

Representation - B&Z

Hi everyone.
Here is a blog letting all of you know that you can purchase The Butterfly People in a decent retail-gallery setting at B&Z Silk Gallery which is located in lower Manhattan inside of the Pier 17 pavilion of the South Street Seaport. You can easily get there by train using the A,C, J, M, Z, 2, 3, 4, 5, to Broadway-Nassau or Fulton Street station, walk east towards the east river and you cant miss Pier 17 with the boats. B&Z is located on the second floor near the back end of the mall (towards the east river). See the business card above for numbers if you want to call and for their website visit www.bzartinternational.com, my work is not on their online store, but feel free to ask about the work of Pedro Ramirez before you visit you may have to describe them as the clay ladies with butterfly wings. Currently, the works below are inside of the gallery for sale.