i’m jealous of michael mcconnell
Why is it that kids’ bodies and animal heads go so well together? Well, whatever the reason, San Francisco based artist Michael McConnell has paired them up beautifully in his series, little (animals). These paintings are ‘dealing with the characteristics that we associate with animals, in conjunction with how we are raising our children.’ Hm, I wonder what kind of animal head my parents would have assigned to me? An angry bear? A nervous squirrel? I think I was probably that sweet, pensive deer… with a slingshot.
{If you want to know more, and I mean lots more, check out Lisa Congdon’s interview with Michael on Poppytalk.}
for me i’m going to go with hyper active hare… boucing off the walls hyper.
these are so beautiful, like bring a tear to my eye beautiful. now i’m jealous too…
Beautiful,. A perfect combination of the two things in this world that are most sincere, children and animals. I am still thinking about what animal I was ……….
Is that why you pair animals and people in your work Aris? I have a few children with animal heads in my portfolio too… but for me it’s because of the unbelievable imagination that kids have. You can almost watch them truly become a bear/bird/fox etc for an entire afternoon. What a great way to spend the day! Tweet.
for me it has a lot to do with sincerity and to disguise the real people(: I’ve changed details, added ears you know to protect the people that I am telling stories about (: We don’t judge animals the way we judge people they are silent and so are my characters they can’t speak only with their body language the way they cock their head Okay i’ll stop now. Fun to think about people doing similar things for very different reasons.
i was just thinking that. 3 of us with similar work… in a way… but with completely different intent/motivations. oh art, i love you.
Really aren’t all our kids half animal at least once daily. Personnally I would have went with a monkey and hedgehog.
haha!
I really love these, I’ve been working on something similar, using animals to describe personalities and emotions I struggle with personally. No finished products yet, just a few sketches and notes. It’s definitely not an original idea, but who cares? I really think the idea of using an animal to describe a child’s personality is fun… I already call my daughter “bunny” and that fits her… My son though I would have a tougher time with. He’s constantly busy, independent, very stubborn, focused, with a temper. Maybe a hornet? Lol… Anyway, I like your blog, found it linked on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing!
I love these pictures