I have always loved theatre, the realm of suspended disbelief where, when lights are dimmed and the curtain is drawn back, you enter another world. Puppets are a part of that world. They carry within their simple objectness—objects made of paper, cloth, leather, wood and paint—the hint, the possibility of life, of magic. When handled with skill we can suspend our disbelief and believe in them as beings with a spirit of their own.
Bride, 1989, Acrylic/chalk on paper, 20 x 15 in.
Horse II, 1989, Acrylic/chalk on paper, 35 x 23 in.
Throughout my home and studio, amongst the many objects that delight my eye, puppets are propped in vessels, against books, and hung from walls. Just objects. But such presence! In dull moments, when least expected, out of the corner of my eye they can come to life. My first painting in a series on puppets and masks, Emerging Prince , arrived in such a moment. Without a studio and longing to paint I spied him looking at me. Thus a series was born.
In the summer of 1989 I travelled to Indonesia (Bali and Java) and was entranced by puppet theatre. I came home with seven wayang-golek. These are three dimensional wooden rod puppets of amazing flexibility, with jointed arms and a moving head.
Four of my puppets are the Panakavans. These characters, whose names derive from old Javanese, could be variously described as servants, savants or clowns who inject a rustic humour into tales of the Hindu gods. At home, inspired by my wooden travelling companions I did several monotypes and paintings of the Panakavans in an attempt to bring these things of wood and cloth and paint to life.
At first I represented them as individuals, solo dancers with their own expression. Later I set them up as though in a series of "dialogues" as though to tell a short story. Three paintings titled Don't Be Afraid, Come Look and Something New represent paintings of the Panakavans in dialogue. The fourth painting, Ah, is a painting of another Javanese wayang golek, presumably one of the gods, and delivers the end of the very short story.
For me these puppets hint at something magical.