The Faces Series - Thomas Mallard

Entry by: Eric Schaible

Artwork is not something that comes natural to me. I don’t typically like it, mostly due to the fact that I just don’t understand it. For example, I am using three of Thomas Mallard’s drawings, which combine to make a series called A Year of Faces. Upon first glance of these drawings, it is hard to me to make out anything of significance except that each woman’s face is distorted, with the left side of the drawing being lower than that of the right. There also looks to be the number 2 dividing each side of the face. It is not until I began researching this artwork, then I found out the true meaning of it.
Thomas Mallard is a man who is well versed in the life of art. He has received schooling from UC Berkeley for art but has also done work in dance, sculpture, etchings, and silk-screenings. With much of his life being dealt with computers, he experimented on and off with drawing and designing. One of his biggest influences over time has come from the work of Pablo Picasso. Interestingly enough, after looking at a few of Picasso’s paintings, it seems as if the disfigured face may have actually been copied. Whether or not this is common place in the art world is out of my knowledge, but I did find that to be quite fascinating. Another form of his inspiration comes from a desire to capture the emotions felt by many people, as shown in the faces series.
These drawings are meant to show people as complex, dualistic, and with a wide variety of physical features. This series was drawn in public, where he used people passing by as his subjects. He wanted to be able to show how people acted in their own environments without any type of influence on their behaviors. Actually analyzing these drawings took some explanation from the artist. Each drawing has more shading on the left side, which makes the viewer realize that there are actually two subjects. The reason for the two mixed into one actual face is to highlight the fact that there are many opposites about people. Such ideas of male vs. female and black vs. white are all supposed to observations by the viewer. By drawing these in public, he is able to draw one subject head on, while the profile of another person is used.
As a casual observer of these pieces, it is hard to formulate an opinion as to whether I think that they should be considered special or not. The faces, at first glance, merely look to be split in the middle with a disfigured emotion. However, after taking note from what the author wanted people to observe, I can realize that there are subtle pieces that cannot be seen unless there is time taken to understand the piece.