Mel
Mel
Earth
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Mel
Introducing a submission for your kind consideration. This is a grotesque (type of gargoyle) version of a Demon prince. Grotesques glower down at people from cathedrals and were created to scare evil spirits away. People in the Middle Ages believed in Heaven, Hell, demons and witches. So the church used grotesques such as this to scare the illiterate population into coming to church, giving the message that it was only safe inside the church and not outside. In these times people became sick with an illness called "Ergot" from eating mouldy fungus in bread that caused their limbs to burn and they would rot and fall off. Nice, huh? Ergot was an equivalent of LSD in those times. It also created hallucinations of being attacked by monsters, so many people were tripping out thinking their neighbours were demons. This piece is approximately 30 cm height and hand-built from scratch from Paperclay with a patented bronze glaze with a gorgeous pink blush from where the kiln has been hottest. I feel a special connection with gargoyles/grotesques in that they are static in time whilst the world changes around them, seasons and ages come and go. Being disabled, chronically ill and housebound I feel the same as the gargoyle and the water I associate with healthy emotion and catharsis. Also having gone up to 8 months at one point (with ongoing communication disabilities) not being able to speak a single word, this outpouring of water from the gargoyles throat or Gargula is an expression of communication also and unblocking this part of my body. The Gargoyle is a representation of me and an intimate portrayal of living with chronic illness and disability.
Alec Brubaker
Cool! Really looks like some little artifact!
Scott Flanders
Love this one. Feels like an antique baboon deity. Thanks for the ergot lesson and thanks for sharing your story :)
Charlene
3yr
This is an amazing sculpture good luck!
Rizwan Piracha
Beautiful, hideous and brilliant! This guy makes the Notre Dame gargoyles look like Mickey Mouse.
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