CM: Ever with a child-like curiosity about him, Yannis Gaïtis created his own versions of toys after his famous stock figures, in order for the fans of his art to play with. Amongst these toys were wooden String Puppets, which featured in the exhibition Les Jouets de Yannis Gaïtis at Galerie Polyplano, Athens, in December 1975. This particular String Puppet in Profile is not illustrated in Yannis Gaïtis: Catalogue Raisonné of 2003 and despite being a multiple of one hundred pieces, it came as a joyous revelation to the artist's daughter, Mme Loretta Gaïtis-Charrat. Be it as it may, the present String Puppet is one of Gaïtis' stock men dressed in a red and black pin stripped suit, with a bowler hat. Like its other look-alikes, this figure - blank-faced and stylized - depicts the uniformity and sterility of mass living. Faceless and anonymous, he denounces the mechanisms of alienation and isolation of contemporary society. All he can do however is to passively raise his hands and feet at his viewers' fancy.
