Brickhead Love

- by James Tyler

Standing eight feet tall and weighing more than five thousand pounds, this colossal ceramic head immediately attracts notice with its imposing size and colorful tiles imprinted with the word "LOVE." Passersby also hear a changing variety of ambient sounds thanks to an audio component installed by the artist. Sculptor James Tyler says each of his heads is “handmade and unique” but “universal, bringing together today’s faces with pre-Columbian, South American, Native American, Asian, African, and Western influences. They are us.”

Tyler is based in Haverstraw, NY, 25 miles north of New York City and is Executive Director of the GAGA Arts Center. His work has been exhibited across the country and has received awards from the Boston Society of Architects and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “There is something timeless in Tyler’s Brickhead sculptures,” one curator noted. “Yet they are clearly contemporary. Relics of a civilization not yet past--the ponderous weight of the brick constructions juxtaposed with the ethereal nature of time.”

Thanks to our community supporters, especially for the seamstress talents of our Summit neighbor Terry Jacobs, in adding to the message of public art during this time.

Sometimes a single image can perfectly capture a moment in time. For many of us that moment came when someone placed a mask on one of our public art works downtown, James Tyler's "Brickhead LOVE." The sight of this familiar face hidden behind the same sort of mask many of us now find it necessary to wear, made for a powerful image and reminded us that we all need to do our part to help one another during this difficult time.