It's a funny how childhood fascinations can stick with you and work there way into your life. For me, a prime example of that is the films of Ray Harryhausen. For you poor souls who have no idea who I'm talking about...he is the stop-animation guru that enthralled children for decades. Perhaps most renowned for the Sinbad movies, Jason and the Argonauts and, of course, Clash of the Titans. As a child I went to see his films gleefully awaiting the next batch of critters. From gorgons, to harpies, to centaurs, to a sword wielding Kali...oh did I mention the Cyclops.
Here's a link to his full list of film creations http://www.harryhausen.com/
I have little more than a suspicion that his films had much to do with my interest in singled eyed beasties. The horned Cyclops in the 7th Voyage of Sinbad is iconic...certainly to me. Is this why I am so fascinated with eyes? I suspect this... plus my grandfathers contact lens business had quite a bit to with my thematic biases.
A little over a year ago Ray Harryhausen passed away, and I was thinking that I never really did anything to honor his influence formally. Because of the this I decided to combine his influence with another tremendous inspiration, Day of the Dead, (oh how I would have loved to see a Harryhausen Dia de los Muertos film) and so the Santo (saint) Clops was created.
The Santos Clopes
I made a few of these Ray Harryhausen inspired shrines to sell. Ultimately I'd like to work on some larger version using skull closer to life-size. As you may notice...I'm attempting to use a bit more color to stay in line with the Dia de los Muertos traditions. I'll have about 5 for sale in my store starting Thursday June 18th at 4pm P.S.T. At that time the products will be listed in the Art For Sale Section of my page.
