cleo mussi

Image from Homes & Antiques magazine, February 2009.

I adore the work of artist Cleo Mussi, who takes pieces of broken ceramic and re-purposes them in mosaic sculptures and figurines. She has a wonderful eye for the bizarre and a very quirky sense of humour. After all, what better to do with one of those hideous Staffordshire Dog figurines than to lop off its head and give it a different body? Or to use a pair of artichokes from a tureen as a goddess' breasts? I think it is a delightfully subversive commentary on the idea of figurines as decorative items, and ceramics as objects of value and even mild worship. Each piece is made of fragments from a whole multitude of different sources - objects from different countries, different pieces ranging from teapots to gravy boats, each bearing an individual history - which adds another layer of meaning to the finished object.

I find her latest collection of 'Mutants' very appealing. They are like demi-gods or freakish outcasts and are both funny and unsettling. It's the kind of thing I would like to have made myself, and I would definitely have one of these crazies sitting on my piano top to watch me as I play.