The Heid 28 March 2011

Bray based sculpture, Gibb, brings us ‘The Heid’. The Heid simply put is the scots word for a ”head” and is cast of Gibb’s face in 2008. The origins of this project came when Gibb left his face cast behind him in Dublin’s Stephens Green following an outdoor art exhibition.

Gibb tells us ‘One month later, whilst in Dublin walking by the local Garda station, that was closest to Stephens Green, I felt I should go in and ask at least, how to describe the sculptures I had lost, my own head, a hand on a breast, bits of fingers… well I just said sculptures. A look on the officers face had me thinking, I did not realise why until he appeared with my face in his hands, the lips painted red, the eyes painted red, a chunk out of the head. I was suprised indeed and thanked him with a smile and a strange look from them… mmm, no breast cast, can’t blame them as it was a very nice piece of work. That was that, I was reunited with my heid’.

This episopde inspired the Edinburgh born artist to lose his Heid’s all over Dublin and so face casts began to pop up all over the city.’I always wanted to do street performing but I couldn’t do it, so the first faces I put up on the walls were silver, it was a sort of a free street entertainment. It wasn’t a cry for attention; I wanted to get people curious about art.’
Read more on Gibb’s blog, The Art of The Heid.