Don Austin: HEADS 2011-12

I have drawn thousands of heads over the years, doodling them compulsively on magazines, newspapers, envelopes, old CDs, pieces of cardboard, discarded xeroxes at the library, and in the sand walking along a beach. At one point I thought the form had exhausted itself because I began doing them in the shape of butterflies, a traditional symbol of transformation and change. Another time they grew feet as though they were going to walk away. But they stayed.

This ‘HEADS’ series began just after my mother died in the fall of 2011. I didn’t realize it at the time but, looking back, I probably wanted to have some bright colours around that winter.