wonder watch one - musicians' mugs

Faces are familiar, we look at them everyday, sometimes they are friendly, sometimes not. Sometimes they repulse and other times they can make knees grow weak. They can even get very close without us flinching. I recently became aware at the facial dexterity of musicians while listening to a live blues jam. A guitarist first caught my eye as he sang a somewhat multifarious version of "Supersitious." This particular face was entrenched in his playing. His face was twisting and contorting in a somewhat strange manner conveying pleasure and pain all at the same time. I thought to myself that I would want to play guitar for the sole permission to make all those powerful faces in a thirty-second stitch. No one found it odd or uncomfortable that at one moment it appeared he was having a climax and the next a hernia. He wasn't the only one either, the drummer, the vocalist, and the bassist all joined the face-play bandwagon.

The situation provided a microcosmic demonstration of not only why people play music, but also why people like to watch. The direct display and creation of passion is what many love to demonstrate and what some can only observe. When one is passionate things occur that the the doer, sayer, maker is unaware of, hence the myriad of expressions of the musicians' mugs. The guitarist displayed that in the midst of playing, the full range of emotion and enjoyment was felt. This can be applied to any field. The finding of such a place of pleasure and pain that leads to passion is a wonder worth wanting.

The above image is a pair of faces titled "Mom and Pop", Monoprint, 2007

It is made with foil and screening techniques.