Painting in acrylic on canvas from 2025, by Vanessa Playford.

Artist note: the figurative bellows with finely sculpted head was a critical component of blacksmithing, and a powerful symbol of the important connections between metalworking arts and sacred kingship. 

Original image from Tribal Art magazine, Belgium. 

dimensions (incl. frame)
height: 49cm
width: 39cm
depth: 6cm
weight: 1.37kg

canvas
height: 46cm
width: 36cm

Artwork.
Acrylic on canvas.
Solid walnut frame.
Made in Australia.

See our full selection of work by Vanessa Playford.

Vanessa Playford lives and works in Sydney, Australia. She is a self proclaimed "outsider artist" and has pursed her own journey into abstraction to investigate the many forms of emotion and space within the human condition.

Complimenting her abstract practice is a series of figurative works based on tribal masks and objects, stemming from extensive travels to New Mexico, South America, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and North Africa, as well as an education in Oceanic and North American tribal arts. She sees these powerful works from First Nations peoples as vehicles for important storytelling, strength and status.

Read more about Vanessa Playford.