In arriving at her own idiom, sculptor Marisol drew on traditions ranging from pre-Columbian art to Picasso. But the most important influence on her work was probably her own irrepressible streak of satiric whimsy, and perhaps the most engaging aspect of the figural pieces that brought her to prominence in the 1960s was their wry commentary on contemporary life. Despite their stiffly expressionistic character, her images often have a vitality that makes them eerily lifelike. As one critic put it in a discussion of her portrait series Heads of State, Marisol's images often seem poised "to move when we turn our backs" and to break out in "chatter when the lights go out."

In this photograph taken for the Village Voice, Marisol stands surrounded by her work The Party at its maiden exhibition in 1966. The grouping contained more than a dozen representations of her own face, and to some extent the piece was an exploration of the artist's own identity.