Amy West and her young son brought in a bag of broken toys that just screamed out to be transformed. On of them, which I ended up opting for was a headless pig in soft rubber. I have no idea what kind of head the pig had before, but just the body was very inspiring. Given that the other toy they had with them, for me to have a choice, was a broken police car, there was a joke there almost forcing itself onto me: I mean, what to do with a headless pig and a crashed police car if not a cruel pun on the law enforcement? As often happens though, when I feel pressured by items or ideas in a certain direction, I chose to resist and see what else will crop up. Since the pig was open in more directions than the car, this was the way to go. Considering all the different kinds of heads I could give the pig, it really struck me that they would all be denigrating in some kind. I mean, what kind of head can you stick on a pig without insulting someone? Poor pigs, not only do we keep them just for their bacon, we also look down on them to such an extent that all and everyone would be infuriated for being associated with them. What to do then? Well, I decided to go for one of the well worn clichés, but at least one that would hold a double bottom. Both as a political comment and as a piggy bank.

I modelled the head for the capitalist pig from my memory of the Monopoly guy. It was first made in plasticine and then after I formed a plaster mould around it, I cast it in silicone rubber. I had bought this rubber for mould making. It was really meant to form the mould itself for casting several small casts after each other, but I ended up using it for the sculpture itself instead. Rubbers and plastics are tricky materials for artists. I like them for their associations with industrial products like toys and suchlike, but dislike the material in itself. As an artist, I find it important not only to be attracted by beautiful and smooth materials, but also to venture where ugliness lives. Sticky, stretchy rubber will bring with it something completely different than nicely carved wood or exclusive bronze.

I feel a little bit bad about the very qualities of the rubber I used. Mould making silicone is very greasy, or “non-sticky”, which is great when using it for casting, but not so great when trying to paint it. I didn’t have that many paints around, and also no time to properly hunt around for something better, and after trying the ones I had, I must admit they didn’t impress me. They simply didn’t want to stick to the surface. Alas, what could I do? All that was left to me was to apologize and explain this to Ms West, plus to give her the permission to repaint the head with better quality paints when and if this became necessary.