Cookie Monster.

The pink frosted motif of Mother’s circus animal cookies proved to be an unexpectedly rich source of inspiration, beginning with the Delicious Elephant mask that I made as part of the Missing Your Face show at the Art Center in 2021. Later, I found myself incorporating that same design into the paintings I worked on for the Thumb Wars & Storymonsters show at the local library.

In late 2022, I even accessorized the Delicious Elephant mask and wore it as a costume, which had delicious gloves and a delicious vest! But in all the time that had passed since that mask show in 2021, I had not made a single new mask.

That all changed in January 2023. Halloween was over. The Library show was done. It was winter and there was nothing else making demands on my time, so I could finally pull the trigger on an idea that had been gestating since last October, when a brand new Hellraiser movie premiered on Hulu while I was making my costume.

A new Hellraiser movie, featuring a demonic, mutilated character colloquially known as ‘Pinhead.’ And me with the pink cookie motif on my mind. See where this is going?