I was waiting for a long-overdue haircut this morning at Angles in Strathcona. With calming peppermint tea in hand, I looked over my shoulder, past the bank of sinks, to see this row of heads displayed on a shelf along the wall.
The backstory was equally interesting. Promoted as a form of therapy for the nonagenarian mother of the founder of this Calgary hair style chain, she took to creating new visages for these hairdressing model heads, using a mosaic of mugshots cut out from fashion magazines.
The sculptural effect was, on the one side, rather cubist, like Picasso’s Portrait of Dora Maar (1937). Maar, a nine-year long lover and frequent model of the great Spanish painter, was herself a surrealist photographer. Looking again, they reminded me of the stark, yet alluring muscular exposures captured in the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
Thanks to Angles Strathcona, Chris for the haircut and to Cindy for the conversation and story behind these sculptures.
For more environmental images and other heads and masks, please see:
NixonScan 
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