The Hollow Man 

Limewood and mixed media 

30 inches/ 760 mm high including the base

‘Image’ is I think a modern concept.  The idea that what a person ‘appears to be’, is more important than what they are is universally accepted from some superstar who is actually a pathetic junkie, to the politician who is really a wife beating, bribe taker.  I am often struck by watching riot police in full body armour beating hell out of some demonstrator.  Take away his uniform and what do you have - a man who lives in a semi in a suburban back street.  Do his wife and kids ask him if he’s had a good day at work? 

Harlequin and his fellow fools such as Punchinello, Pierrot etc. have been an integral part of European culture since the Roman era.  Now they are no longer wanted – their humour replaced by TV celebrities, their satire by the Simpsons.  To my children they are historic figures, to my grandchildren meaningless.  Without the recognition of their ‘uniform’ they cease to have any relevance in modern society.  Hence the ‘Hollow Man’ – take away the costume and nothing is left, like Harlequin whose diamonds are falling away leaving nothing inside. 

The carving of the Hollow Man is one of the most complex I have undertaken.  Each part of the figure is carved in solid limewood, then largely cut away and hollowed out.  It is then rebuilt in thin, shaped diamonds of different timbers with certain diamonds missing to reveal the hollow interior.