🎪 Celeste DuMarais Reviews: Cirque de Antonio
“A spectacle of silhouettes, syncopation, and unapologetic drama.”
There are ten figures in Cirque de Antonio, and not a single one is resting. Hastings has staged a riot of motion—acrobats mid-leap, dancers mid-spin, and one suspended figure who seems to defy both gravity and narrative logic. The striped backdrop evokes vintage circus tents, but the color palette is pure emotional theatre: yellow floor, brown-black verticals, and figures rendered in bold, Fauvist silhouettes.
This is not a circus. It’s a ritual disguised as entertainment. The performers aren’t just tumbling—they’re testifying. Each pose feels choreographed by memory and myth. The triangular aerialist? A symbol of ascension. The balancing figures? A study in tension and theatrical poise. Hastings doesn’t just stage movement—he sanctifies it.
The Matisse lineage is clear, but this isn’t homage. It’s evolution. The cut-outs are sharper, the drama louder, the bodies more urgent. Cirque de Antonio is what happens when joy gets a dramaturgical budget and refuses to be quiet.
Final verdict: I clapped. I gasped. I considered joining the troupe. But I’m told auditions require a mask, a monologue, and a willingness to be mythologized.
—Celeste DuMarais, Senior Critic, Theatrical Bodies Quarterly Currently stretching.
 
Each person in this image started as a photo taken by Terry, who then, inspired by Henri Matisse's Cut Outs, cut them out with photoshop and then scratched in important details like nipples and genitals.  Terry then digitally created this circus world for them to dance in.
 
This work is offered as a 24x36, 32x48 or 40x60 inch print. Please inquire about other sizes. 
The work is titled, numbered, a limited edition of 10, and signed by the artist.
 
The photo is shipped in a double tube for safety.
Please allow 5 - 7 days for production and shipping.