This set of seven charcoal studies serves as a visual laboratory in which the «Cyclops» aesthetic and the tension of the frontal void took shape. Each piece begins with the decision to remove the subject’s most identifiable feature, the nose, through the compression of sculptural profiles. This highlights the fragility and artificiality of political memory.

In the drawings of Marx and Mao, the reduction to a single eye symbolizes monocular, inflexible power incapable of seeing beyond its dogma. Meanwhile, the sketches of Stalin and Lenin’s profiles, drawn directly from official busts, foreshadow the dehumanization inherent in the cult of leadership by omitting the frontal portion of the face.

Including Stalin’s revolver and dagger establishes an explicit link between the image of authority and its instruments of violence. Rendered with the same coarse texture as the faces, the weapons reveal that the coercive dimension of power is intrinsic to its physiognomy.

Finally, the rear view of Mao’s bust inverts the visual pact of identification, reminding the viewer that every representation has a hidden side. These preliminary pieces experiment with tonal techniques, such as using charcoal to create luminous and shadowy fissures, and operate as acts of active memory. They dismantle the monumental rhetoric of bronze and challenge the unity of the historical image.