Steve Banks: Punching Holes in the Rah-Rah: Back On The Case With Kyklopes (KEEK-law-pace)

This past Spring, about half-way through my full-throttle production phase for Pop Culture Palimpsest, I conducted a serious analysis of what pieces I was working on compared with what pieces would actually fit in the gallery space (and which pieces had the best conceptual relevancy with each other). There ended up being around 6 pieces I cut from my production roster so I could A) free up some of my dwindling studio time, and B) ensure every piece had its proper amount of space in the show.

Kyklopes was one of those pieces that were cut from the team roster.

I am now finally able to spend some time re-engaging with Kyklopes and figure out where I want to take this piece. This post is primarily a long series of images that show some of my process in partnering different elements with each other and seeing what relationships they suggest.

I had originally envisioned Kyklopes being a vertical composition. Only recently did I decide that I want to make it a horizontal diptych-esque piece. Diptychs are natural choices for either times when you wish to compare and contrast two things, or show a before and after sequence. I'll worry about that conceptual stuff in the near future, but the visual is king, so I want to start by making an interesting visual experience/composition.

'Leg' configuration No. 1

The initial pairing of the two (possible) halves.

The right side (the after part?).

Sample text configuration. A little more magic brought to you courtesy of my trusty Dremel Tool.

The 'Eye' and 'Face'

Teeth.

Upper torso with arch support.

Upper torso with obnoxiously over-the-top arch support. If you've been a long time reader of this blog, you can probably guess which one I prefer between the two...

Other cardboard negative shapes showed up for the audition process.

The double-arch support...

Testing the whole thing as a vertical composition again.

Testing some subtle configuration changes. The two 'legs' are swung out to the right further in the top image...

...and a bit more back towards the left (and off-balance) on the lower image.

Since I've been working with an abandoned billboard/road side sign motif lately, I thought I'd pull this sign component into the mix. I made several of these signs for possible use in Pop Culture Palimpsest. Some made it, some did not.

Text configurations.

Having the text just shoot out straight for the foot gave me the idea to shift the whole line of text up to the middle to reinforce/expand the possibilities of interpretation for Kyklopes. If I have to get more specific with the Kyklopes/one-eyed monster connection for you, may I recommend going back to reading your Little Golden Books or Highlights? (Links provided for both: http://www.littlegoldenbooks.com/ and https://www.highlights.com/).