Good Head

Recently, I got a chance to visit the Menil Collection, a fantastic collection of various art pieces, known not only for it's ancient and classical pieces, but for it's promotion of surrealist and modern/post modern art. While the collection of art is impressive, the things that caught my attention the most during the exhibitions were the varieties of head pieces found throughout the museum.

For example, this piece:


(Click on the pics for a larger view)

An actual piece with actual human heads! From a cannibal tribe in Papua New Guinea. If traveling to PNG and someone offers you head, be sure to ask them, "What kind of head?"; because it's going to be hard to pack up a human head in your souvenir luggage...not to mention how to explain it to customs when you arrive back home.

The next exhibit:



Another Pacific tribal find: Nude pygmy, apparently circumcised...his foreskin used as a hat of some sort...

Then there was this piece by Rene Margritte:



I guess this was back before technology was able to make a full size poster pic of a lady...of course, I'm assuming all the parts belong to her. Not really understanding the Surrealists, it could be pieces of various ladies...umm, hopefully, no ladies were harmed in the making of these pieces.

Then we come to my favorite part of the museum, the room with the private collection of the Surrealists, with an emphasis on private:

For instance, when an artist gets stiff and needs a little release and relaxation, I suppose they could use this neck massager:



And when things get rough and a Surrealist needs a little inspiration, they didn't have a Hang On Kitty poster. Instead, they had the next best thing:



Still the same message: Hang on, Kitty!

And finally, the most interesting piece of all:



Yes, it's some sort of rubber/pin cushion suit, like Pinhead from Hellraiser. I had to wonder, which Surrealist freak wore this one for a good time. Was it Picasso? Perhaps that Max Ernst--those Germans love the S&M. Maybe Marcel Duchamp? I have a suspicion it could be Rene Magritte...only because anyone who paints a British man in a bowler hat then covers his face with fruit has to be a freak of some sort. It's always the quiet ones that are the real freaks!

All in all, I do believe the Menil Collection of heads was interesting. Though it may not have left me weak in the knees or out of breath, it certainly gave me some interesting ideas, like where to find a rubber/pin cushion suit...