Soft Face is a small-scale female bust belonging to a series that navigates the space between the cute and the subtly unsettling. Its stiff, elongated neck and half-smiling, pursed lips give the figure a knowing, almost arrogant presence. The title refers not only to the figure’s delicate smile but also to the soft, tactile quality of the rubber surface, with its smooth, supple skin. At first glance, the figure appears innocent; on closer inspection, however, its proportions and expression reveal a stranger, more ambiguous character.
Modelled in wild balata rubber—formed underwater, hollow, and with a thin, flexible skin—the work carries the material’s immediacy and organic responsiveness. Each piece is then cast in bronze as a unique object, with the original balata form lost in the process.
The bust form itself—deeply rooted in classical and modern sculptural traditions—is intentionally invoked. Its silhouette recalls the work of Germaine Richier, César Baldaccini, and Alberto Giacometti, artists who expanded or distorted the human figure while engaging the conventions of the bust. By adopting this historically conservative format, Soft Smile juxtaposes tradition with transformation, grounding its more playful, fantastical, and eccentric elements within a lineage of sculptural experimentation.