by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
His name is Louis. Louis Van Gogh.
He’s a formidable character, perhaps the first that clients see when they go to Mary Fisher Design on the Southbank.
Louis projects a thoughtful presence. He’s third from the left in the row of employee mug shots on the company’s website.
“Louis is in charge of all billing and delinquent accounts,” Mary Fisher read from the site. “And can be counted upon occasionally for philosophical takes on life. You do not want to make Louis angry.”
With his left eye shut behind red frame glasses, set askew across his nose, Louis fixes his audience with an unblinking stare. His chin is cupped between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. He’s clearly deep in thought.
Well, maybe not so clearly. Because Louis is a sculpture, a disembodied head and hand that come together in a way that makes the mind fill in the gaps. He’s sort of The Thinker on a stick, up on a pedestal.
“He looked a little like my Uncle Louis, and the Van Gogh is because he’s missing one ear,” said Fisher.
Louis, composed of polyester resin and 27 layers of paint, is the creation of Marc Sijan, an ultra-realistic sculptor from Milwaukee. The work is so exacting that the full-body sculptures may be mistaken for real people, even at a moderate distance.
Louis himself comes complete with age spots, moles, eyebrows, blemishes and wrinkles. Even pores.
“He’s beautiful to me,” said Fisher. “I just love him.”
Sijan puts his models in a full-body cast, slathering them with Alginate, the same substance dentists use to mold teeth. The subjects breathe through tubes while the goo hardens, a process that takes hours, according to his website.
The fine detail is done with dental instruments. Each work may take four to six months to complete, depending on the complexity.
Fisher said she suspects the artist was influenced by Duane Hanson, one of the initial ultra-realistic artists, who became very popular in the 1980s. Hanson, a native of Parkers Prairie, Minn., moved to Davie, Fla., in 1973. He had an exhibition at the Jacksonville Art Museum in the early 1980s, Fisher said.
She first saw his work at the Orange Park Art Festival. People crowded around the booth couldn’t tell which were the sculptures and which were the real people.”
Sijan often poses people with his statues, reinforcing the precision of his pieces.
“We’ve had a lot of fun with him,” said Fisher. “I propped him up in my bed at home, put him on a pillow and put a book on his chest. He looks like a real person.”
After seeing the sculptor’s work for years, Fisher bought Louis about a year ago, “and I would love to have more.”
it won’t come cheap. The full-size sculptures started around $20,000 when Fisher bought Louis, who cost $2,000.
If price is no object, Sijan accepts commissioned work.
Every now and then, she gets an e-mail about Louis on the website promoting her business. Mary Fisher Design creates distinctive brochures, annual reports, corporate identity logos, newsletters, magazines and websites.
“Louis is distinctive,” said Fisher. “I like him so much I put him on the website, like an employee.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think he draws a reaction from you. He’s thinking; he’s pondering. I think it’s beautiful.”