This month, Jasper’s Tiny Gallery has featured the work of Pascale Sexton Bilgis, a French mixed media artist currently located in Charleston, South Carolina. She is predominantly concentrated on expressionist landscape paintings, which are inspired by the vast majesty of the French countryside she grew up in, and sculpture.
Bilgis’ sculpture work is highlighted in particular in Tiny Gallery, which is currently showing a collection of works from her Little Flat People series. These Little Flat People are all made of the same clay, same color, fired in the same kiln at 2000 degrees, and if it weren’t for their various poses—and their surroundings made up of shells, rocks, and other bits of painted clay—they would all look virtually the same.
Still, through these aforementioned other elements, the Little Flat People take on lives and personalities of their own, reflecting many of the lives Bilgis notices around her. Of her inspiration behind the Little Flat People, Bilgis says on her website, “I found my inspiration in humanity and the people I see every day; especially, the purity and innocence of children, and their innate empathy for others.”
This childhood innocence and purity is certainly reflected in many of Bilgis’ works, including “Flying on a Mushroom,” which depicts two Little Flat People holding each other’s hands at the peak of an oversized mushroom, positioned in a sort of Superman-esque pose with their legs dangling off the mushroom’s cap; and “The Oyster Playground,” which depicts several childlike Little Flat People climbing up stone steps and sliding down a playground slide made out of an oyster shell, all in various modes of play, their limbs turned about in wild expressions of anticipation and enjoyment.
Throughout the entire series, the Little Flat People take on a variety of activities, from fishing to reading to playing to drinking to simply being with one another, like in the piece “Golden Green Dad and Son,” which depicts a Little Flat Person standing proudly with his Little Flat son on his shoulders, looking out over a little clay pot. Each of the pieces is imbued with a kind of pure joy; no matter the occasion the Little Flat People may find themselves in, the kind of joy that can serve as a reminder of the wonder of life’s little things or simply provoke a smile in whoever may be so fortunate as to gaze upon it.
All pieces are available at the Jasper Project’s Tiny Gallery until the end of April and are priced between $25 and $50.