Icon Tact. Bob West.
Bob writes:
It's constructed from a series of hand made faux messiahs in plaster around the edges. An actual external solid wood frame, The main image is on a separate board, canvas covered and slightly uplifted to sit proud of the framing device. The main panel is a montage of bits. There is a small upturned, hand painted postal box for jewellery in the bottom left-hand corner beside the central face; a fake looking relic on the other side made from nails and bits of gnarled leather and at the top right-hand side, obscuring the crown a little, is another applied 'thing' figure with a tin insert. The central figure is surrounded by what are to me rather archetypical characters making hand gestures that crop up a lot in my work. The worn down nature of the thing is a key element; lots of scratched surfaces and purposeful ageing - care worn and enticed. The main figure has brass 'eyebrows' from an old gas mantle. It's mostly painted in acrylic with household emulsion - although I am tempted to say 'household emotion' which has a better ring to its echoing tones.
