"Mind Your Manner" Abstract Relief Sculpture. Carved sculpture and painting by Mickey "Kano" Kane (American, 20th century). This large-scale relief sculpture features a carved rorschach-esque shape dominating the center of the composition. The shape is outlined by a deep carving rendered in dark blue and laid with paper pulp. The center carving of this shape features protruding sculptural areas and found objects, providing further depth within the relief. Wavy yellow rings comprise the outside of the central shape. Within the yellow is a subtle grey-blue area where a geometric arrangement of 27 sculptures made with found objects, primarily buttons and acorns, sits. Kano's work is outsider art - characterized by its creation outside the boundaries of mainstream art and often by self-taught or unconventional artists. Outsider art encompasses a diverse range of artists, including self-taught visionaries, psychiatric patients, and those outside the mainstream art world. Titled and signed on verso "Mind Your Manner" Kano 93 Panel size: 48"H x 72"W Mickey “Kano” Kane (American, 1939-2002) was born in Illinois and grew up in Sacramento, CA. Kane moved to the Pacific Coast and worked on mixed media panels - which he would refer to as a “Totem” – and detailed collage compositions. His collage work is generally satirical or critical in nature, frequently dealing with themes of money, capitalism, government, power, and debt. By contrast, his “Totem” sculptural work is abstract and free of direct symbolism, focusing instead on the aesthetics of the composition. Original Member, Artist’s Cooperative Gallery Artist’s Statement: The Totem is indicative of the unfolding 21st Century, graphically and metaphorically. It is neither one side nor the other, nor does one side challenge or compete with the other. Each side cooperates and thus enhances the other so that both "sides" transcend that definition into a composition revealing that, indeed, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Totem reflects the inner harmony that all sides, whether two or two thousand, are striving to manifest in their own inimitable way.