Military Muse: Does the "Solider's Face" project mimic Brancusi?

Artworks from Suzane Opton's "Soldier's Face" billboard project are now on view at LA's Stephen Cohen Gallery. The series was scheduled to appear in the Twin Cities to coincide with the Republican National Convention, but the local billboard company pulled the plug, fearing viewers might think the boards show dead soldiers (my colleague Chris Steller reports that one version was ultimately produced here). The LA Times' Christopher Knight offers an (ahem) dead-on explanation of the vulnerable, horizontal heads Opton features: They derive from Brancusi's emblematic "Sleeping Muse" sculptures. Beautifully, Knight writes that Opton's "vulnerable images depict the always shocking youth of soldiers who, like the Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods in Brancusi's title, have witnessed devastating power up close. They seem almost shell-shocked, caught between the fragile beauty of youth and the desperate gravity of adulthood."

From Centerpoints, the Walker blog feature I'm guest-writing for a few more weeks.