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Description
I love the idea of telling a story in sculpture by the use of symbols that have meaning to the initiated. Art history is full of them, of course. So with this piece in particular, I have ‘gone to town’ to create a sculpture that is full of hidden meaning and little secrets. This fantasy sculpture evokes the atmosphere of the seedy Bordello theatre late in the nineteenth century. Here the balletic dancer is infact manipulated by strings attached to manacles and is controlled by a sinister four armed figure, who delights in the power that he has over her. There is more to the story however, as at the Marionette’s feet is a pair of scissors, which she contemplates using to cut her restraints and set herself free. Behind her is a beautiful distressed mirror that has liquid patterns of colour across its surface. If the observer takes a torch they can see by shining it into the mirror that the dancer is wearing no knickers. So this becomes a complex combination of images for the voyeur to interpret. Can the Marionette pick up the scissors and cut her strings or is she truly manacled to the puppet master and why is she wearing no knickers? Is that for her, for him or for you, the observer, in this dark tale?

Description
I love the idea of telling a story in sculpture by the use of symbols that have meaning to the initiated. Art history is full of them, of course. So with this piece in particular, I have ‘gone to town’ to create a sculpture that is full of hidden meaning and little secrets. This fantasy sculpture evokes the atmosphere of the seedy Bordello theatre late in the nineteenth century. Here the balletic dancer is infact manipulated by strings attached to manacles and is controlled by a sinister four armed figure, who delights in the power that he has over her. There is more to the story however, as at the Marionette’s feet is a pair of scissors, which she contemplates using to cut her restraints and set herself free. Behind her is a beautiful distressed mirror that has liquid patterns of colour across its surface. If the observer takes a torch they can see by shining it into the mirror that the dancer is wearing no knickers. So this becomes a complex combination of images for the voyeur to interpret. Can the Marionette pick up the scissors and cut her strings or is she truly manacled to the puppet master and why is she wearing no knickers? Is that for her, for him or for you, the observer, in this dark tale?