Wooden Sculptures from Nepal

The other day I stumbled upon this awesome art book:

I had been looking at African tribal art books to get some inspiration for some character design I was doing. I love the African masks and fetish statuettes — these forms are just so strong and elegant and evocative — and I've enjoyed this kind of stuff for a long time. Ever since my mom got me an African mask at the bazaar near Barbès, in Paris, when I was a kid. (I remember that day quite well because, to my teen mortification, she took this purchase as an opportunity to flaunt her formidable bartering skills in an epic demonstration...) 

Anyways, in the same section at the library I found this book about Nepalese tribal art and I got really excited, because I had never seen anything like it. Some of these statues and masks are ritual objects, like the African ones, but a lot of them are just playful everyday objects, representing "buffoon" or protector spirits, which makes their inspiration somehow lighter or less ominous than the African fetishes.

The figures made me think of Polish theatre posters from the 60's and 70's or weird Czech animation or some Dave Mckean stuff. It was somehow familiar, and I felt this immediate affinity for this art. I wanted to draw some of the statues right away so that I could assimilate the forms and use them. I wanted to find a story in which I could use characters that look like these homely and reassuring buffoon spirits, although they are also primal and eery. I could see them as representations of some of my ugly thoughts maybe — my longing when I'm lonely; my reticence; my fear... I could see them skulking about, imprisoned and imprisoning, walking in circles in my mind.

Here are some drawing I made of these wonderful sculptures:

I'm not sure what I will do with this, but I know I want to make images based on these characters. Maybe something I could enter in the Bologna fair. My usual style is too "mainstream" but I think that inspiring myself from these forms, I could tell stories that would appeal to children and also be "artsy" enough for the Bologna jury. To be continued...

Here are some pictures of tribal Nepalese art I found online: