The Ego

The Ego
A Sculpture

The Ego
The Ego
Larry Mixson, 2026

This is what I think is my earliest serious artwork, a sculpture I did when I was sixteen or seventeen (1968). I call it “The Ego”. I had always drawn, colored and made other childhood art but this was the first serious piece that I did. A block of wood carved into a vision; a vision held within myself, of myself. I chiseled and whittled the block, carving away what was not needed, carving away that which was not part of the vision. It took shape, a fetus shape, soft and smooth, head, body not fully formed, yet to emerge. The color had to be black representing a darkness I held at the time. It was, it held, my Ego.

Over the years the sculpture moved with me, aging with me over time. A crack appeared many years ago, a crack in my Ego. Was the Ego too much to be held within? As with my life, the corners and edges of the base got nicked and chipped but overall, the shape of the Ego remained relatively the same; dark but shiny, cracked but whole.

It sits on my shelf, mostly ignored, but at times such as tonight I look at it, seeing something inside, something yet to emerge.

Ego 1