Pocket Portraits

1996 | Cardboard boxes, cast antimony, printed cards, foam inserts; busts, 1.5 ins. high; boxes, 2 x 1.5 x .75 ins.

POCKETS PORTRAITS was a purely commercial concept consisting of collectibles that were meant to be sold in art museum gift shops around the country. A series of hand-sculpted and cast miniature busts of famous artists, the Pocket Portrait pieces were made of white metal and came in “match box” cases with related picture card biographies. Though gift shop buyers were enthusiastic about the line, I was unable to find financial backers for production and distribution, and the concept was eventually shelved. The artists portrayed above are, on the lower level, Impressionists Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh. On the upper level they are Modernists Jacques Villon, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Georges Braque.