Headcase 15

Julia Morison's visceral ceramic heads were based on a wooden wig block, which served as the mould. Here, eyes, noses and mouths are distorted into spikes and holes, while teeth hang from wire tethers. The heads rusted and craquelured surfaces appear like patinas achieved through wear and age.

'Headcase 24', with its suckers and fleshy tones, looks more sensitive than the rusted lattice covered, and spiky, 'Headcase 15'. The works reveal Morison's ongoing interest in surface, beauty and mystery, combined with the stylistic references of Rococo, Surrealism and Dada, and can be likened to the Surrealist head Specter of the Gardenia 1936, by Marcel Jean, or to Henry Moore's helmets.

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