Matisse was known for his paintings of the figure, and his earlier works were in the style of the fauvism movement - a movement that particularly interested me, as I love the use of bright colours and surrealism. Using Matisse as inspiration, I made the below watercolour of an angel (depicting a womans figure) that I had photographed earlier this year in Italy:
After looking at Matisse and his fauvism work, I started looking at ways I could represent the figure in a 3D medium:
Before I carved the Matisse and Okoye inspired figure into the wood, I researched the Akan tribe that create Akuaba figures. They are recognisable by their flat, disk like heads and their simplistic bodies that feature rings around the neck and feminine features such as breasts. I made my own Akuaba figure out of clay, however, I realised that the head would not balance on the body due to its shape and weight. Hence why I began to work with wood in the first place, as the Akan tribe use wood to create the figures, and this way, the heads can balance on the bodies. However, I made do with what I had and added rings around the neck, and simplistic arms, breasts and belly button. I decided to glaze my piece in a polka dot glaze rather that in the solid colour of the dark wood that is actually seen on an Akuaba figure, as the cream colour best represents the colours used by Matisse in his cut outs. The below photo is that of the head I made, and glazed in a blue polka dot glaze - again inspired by Matisse's colour palette:
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