That Familiar One, Beloved Death, My Enemy Who Erases Sorrows Like A Friend

Here I go again with another online workshop with Michael deMeng called Zoo-Illogicals. The basic idea here is to combine a human form with an animal to create some new creature through assemblage vivisection. 

First, the gathering of the stuff. I started this project with a handmade wood wheelbarrow I bought in an antique store. I decided my hybrid was going to be a very cheap plastic Academy Award Oscar and a plastic lion.

One of the early decisions was how to create a stage for my character. I decided that I was going to paint a landscape for my lion-man to stand in.

In building my lion-man, I added some animal scapula that I had in my stash. I dressed him up in some collage clothes that are trying to look African. A last minute decision was to cut his head open and add a crown, something I debated as a cliche but went with it anyway.

Sometimes when I am building an assemblage, if I stare at it long enough, it becomes something I cannot live with. So, the African plain became a cave instead, made out of Great Stuff. 

After some painting and some detailing, it was done. 

Thus we have That Familiar One, Beloved Death, My Enemy Who Erases Sorrows Like A Friend. It is made up of a Handmade Wheelbarrow, an Oscar Statute, Toy Lion Head, Nails (10), Wood Trim (3), Checkers (6), Animal Scapula (2), Beads, Clock Part, Paper, Foam, Paint and a Wood Block. It is 26"H X 12"W X 12"D. 

The title is from Two Elegies, 1: Appointments in The Rebel’s Silhouette: Selected Poems By Faiz Ahmed Faiz.