If you would please post here Mr. Moore, I'd love to learn more about it.
Beautiful work as always, and I can't wait to see further
releases in the same line.
JS[/QUOTE]
Hi JLA,
Here’s the answer to your question. I’ll explain this in length, but do me a favor, will you? And this goes for anyone who reads this- Please make sure other members read this by directing them to it.
First, let me say outright and clearly “THIS IS NOT A BUST”. For some bizarre reason that began with the coining of the term “Mini Bust” it has gradually become common to name anything that is not a full figure a “bust”. It seems that if it doesn’t have feet, it’s a “bust” or a “mini-bust”. A bust is defined as ”a sculptured likeness of the head and shoulders of a person”. It does not include arms, it does not include hips and thighs, it does not include legs or any part thereof. Just as a submarine is not a helicopter and a motorcycle is not an automobile, this is not a bust. It is a Torso.
I get a lot of questions from collectors who ask about the importance of the sculptures we’re doing here being accepted as an art form. It’s certainly important to me and I get the impression it’s important to a lot of sculptors and collectors. Well, if this industry wants these sculptures to be treated as an art form, and they should, then people need to start educating themselves on the proper terms and treating these works as the fine art they can be. And the term “mini bust” sure doesn’t do anything to promote these sculptures as art, in my opinion. While this is, after all, a business, I feel that these pieces can be sculpted and marketed as a true art form and that’s one of my goals when I sculpt and market a piece.
There’s a reason comic book artists and writers are calling themselves “Graphic Novelists”. They feel it puts them in a more respected field than comic book creators which is one step away from the old “funny book” term. It gives them more credibility and credibility leads to more money and fame. And movie deals. When sculptures in this business are more accepted as fine art, it means more respect, which means more collectors, higher prices in the secondary market, etc. Jim Lee’s art being exhibited at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is a great step in this direction and he knows exactly why.
Back to “busts”: I’ll say right here that I’ve been guilty of using the misnomer myself. I allowed the MaryJane Torso to be called a bust and I’ve regretted it ever since. It was not a bust and never should have been called a bust. While I may have misnamed these types of statues in past years, I won’t do it again, even if I’m the only company correctly calling these “Torsos”. A lonely voice in the wild: a lone wolf in the barren tundra!
Back to busts again: As time passed, busts in this business went from actually being the head and shoulders only to later include the arms as well. This added about 25-35% of the sculpting, and at the same time, the size of the busts increased. When I produced the David Mack’s Noh assassins, I added the arms as per the designs and there was no definition for something that was a sculpture of the head, chest and arms. The retail on these items stabilized (with some exceptions) at $45.00. The problem is that these pieces take 60% of the time to sculpt, are as time consuming to produce as a full figure and the price for production is disproportionate to the retail price of the item. To top it off, prices for manufacturing are rising by the month and the cost of shipping (ocean freight and domestic) is skyrocketing.
This leads us to the specifics regarding the Puppeteer. We are constantly in discussions with Top Cow about what should be our next sculpture together and they had suggested a Puppeteer bust some time ago. I had worked with Seth Green before on the Buffy toys. He’s an avid collector, understands the process and his creative input is useful and practical. When it came to executing the bust, I felt, for the reasons above, that doing a bust was too big an investment for the return it would bring, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure the piece justified a full statue and the associated higher retail price tag. I asked myself if rather than doing a bust, could there be a format that would take advantage of the look of the character better, would showcase the sculpture of the figure and that would come in at a price point that collectors might appreciate in this unstable market?
In fine art and classical art, the “Torso” is a respected and very common presentation of the human form. One of my favorite sculptures of all time is the Torso Belvedere, of which nothing remains, but the body and some of the thighs. It loses nothing by the loss and is a stunning representation of the male torso, possibly more effective for what it lacks. The Venus de Milo is all the more beautiful because of the loss of the arms as the exquisite torso becomes the focus for the viewer. In fact, the beauty of these perfectly flawed sculptures began a centuries long love of the torso by sculptors and collectors who saw that the elegance and power of the torso can carry everything the sculpture needs to be complete.
You see, in the final analysis, this went from being a bust to a torso and NOT a full figure down to a torso. This was adding to the figure, not subtracting from it. The glass is actually half full, not half empty.
I decided to sculpt what I thought would be a beautiful torso that collectors would appreciate and that they could own for a price that would not hit them as hard financially as a full figure. Top Cow, Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov were thrilled with the idea. Will it succeed? Who knows, but I wanted to give it a shot rather than simply spend all the time and capital on a bust. This piece is about 12inches tall and is less than $100. If it isn’t backed well enough, it won’t mean I’ll go back to doing busts. It’s more likely many characters won’t be produced at all, at least not by me-it just doesn’t work from a business standpoint; not as a standard licensed product requiring full sculpting. I’m rolling the dice that people, including those who “don’t collect busts” will see that this is not a bust, but a beautiful presentation of the female form and will want it in their collection. As an artist and as a businessman, I’d rather do a series of full statues and a series of torsos than any more busts.
Regarding the face for this figure: while some of the painted covers may have reflected the look of a particular actress, this piece does not. The face was designed using a compilation of Marc Silvestri art studies of female faces and my own approach to the subject and is specifically NOT a portrait of any individual.
Oh, and here’s s shameless plug about the San Diego Comic Con: we’re doing a special edition of Nightmare Puppeteer (from a dark Puppeteer storyline), which is going to be offered at a signing by Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov at the Top Cow booth in San Diego from 4:30-6:30 on Saturday. The variant is limited to 150 pieces, is priced at $125.00 and will include a signed and numbered litho print and a certificate of authenticity signed by Seth, Hugh and me. We’ll be putting up all details on the web site by tomorrow afternoon (
www.csmoorestudio.com).
The regular edition will have a coa signed by yours truly as well.
I hope I answered your question JLA. Please pass this posting on to everyone you think of that might be interested in reading it.
Regards,
CSM
