1990s "Blind Spot" Abstract Relief With Numismatic Patterns Sculpture by Mickey "Kano" Kane

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"Blind Spot" Abstract Relief Sculpture

Carved sculpture and painting by Mickey "Kano" Kane (American, 20th century). This large-scale relief sculpture … Read more "Blind Spot" Abstract Relief Sculpture

Carved sculpture and painting by Mickey "Kano" Kane (American, 20th century). This large-scale relief sculpture features a central circular shape with red lines, reminiscent of sun rays, radiating from it. In the center is an emblem with the image of lady liberty taken from the Saint-Gaudens double eagle coin. Her face has been collaged over with another person's image. The circle around her is given texture with paper pulp laid on top of the board. The relief of the central circle is painted red and features small collaged paper shapes interspersed within it. Between the radiating lines there are more carved relief areas, in an organic pattern which is evocative of roots or other growth. The border of this piece is decorated in reflective silver triangles which have distorted versions of George Washington's portrait from the dollar bill within them. The word "BLIND" is visible at the top and "SPOT" at the bottom of the sculpture.

Kano's work is outsider art - characterized by its creation outside the boundaries of mainstream art and often by self-taught or unconventional artists. Outsider art encompasses a diverse range of artists, including self-taught visionaries, psychiatric patients, and those outside the mainstream art world.

Unsigned, acquired with a collection of the artist's work.

Mickey “Kano” Kane (American, 1939-2002) was born in Illinois and grew up in Sacramento, CA. Kane moved to the Pacific Coast and worked on mixed media panels - which he would refer to as a “Totem” – and detailed collage compositions. His collage work is generally satirical or critical in nature, frequently dealing with themes of money, capitalism, government, power, and debt. By contrast, his “Totem” sculptural work is abstract and free of direct symbolism, focusing instead on the aesthetics of the composition.

Original Member, Artist’s Cooperative Gallery

Artist’s Statement:
The Totem is indicative of the unfolding 21st Century, graphically and metaphorically. It is neither one side nor the other, nor does one side challenge or compete with the other. Each side cooperates and thus enhances the other so that both "sides" transcend that definition into a composition revealing that, indeed, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Totem reflects the inner harmony that all sides, whether two or two thousand, are striving to manifest in their own inimitable way. See less