What is Behind the Mask?
Have you ever wondered about ‘masks?’ I have to change the Blog article for this week because I have been struck by some fascinating intrigue. I have been commissioned to do some regular work by a new Client and am looking forward to it (details in a future Blog article J ). As I went through my Portfolio demonstrating some of my works, my Client said, “Ah, stop! That picture is amazing.....yet you must take it away from me because it...it frightens me!” “I haven’t told you its price yet,” I joked as I tried to make light of the fears oozing out of my Client.
Loved it, but didn’t want to look at it. Now that is a different sort of review!
The original Commissioner for ‘The Ball Mask,’ was to help a Psychologist in therapeutic counselling. The Psychologist would point to the painting, gauge a reaction, and then explain that people ‘wear’ masks. Some for good and some for bad. It was the ‘masks’ that were preventing the person from living a fulfilling life that the depth psychologist aimed to uncover and skilfully discard.
I believe that everyone goes through ‘mask stripping,’ in their lifetime. It is a part of moving from one experience to another. A putting off of an old phase as one enters a new phase. Some masks come at you like a revelation. OMG factor written all over them. Some turn up and are easy to put down. A little bit like a Halloween mask at Easter time. Or even Easter eggs at Hanukkah? This sounds bizarre, but i do come from a mixture of backgrounds that intertwines with different religious beliefs and demands a response and ‘image’ for each one!
Just look at Society. The western world ‘demands’ a mask and even forces one on you. Whether it is the Sports Personality of the Year, or Oscar winner. Or the recent elected politician. The accountant and the lawyer. The policeman and the convicted burglar. The masks and tags that society gives pushes us away from being free from identity but losing ourselves into some form of identity, but only for a while. Take a look at the retired accountant. What is that person now? Are they glad? Are they free? What about the A Lister celebrity that becomes Z Lister? What about the bishop that wants to be newsreader? Or the rabbi that wants to be a rock star?
Everyone has to search their inner person, or soul or spirit as some people put it. Pablo Picasso said that, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
There is ‘light’ in the ‘darkness’ and ambience of ’the Ball mask.’ You will see there are no eyes in face of the mask. The person’s face has no eyes when it peers through the mask. The darkness is the person who does not know their masks. The light is the revelation. Yet it shines like the most precious gold. Worth everything, yet it holds the person to the bondage of never really being free. The precious, priceless, finest Canadian Golden Maple Leafs and Krugerrands, glue the mask in place. Yet get some light behind it and the mask turns into fool’s gold!
There are feasts of thoughts and journeys to be found in ‘The Ball Mask,’ and I hope you gaze at the picture long enough to go on your own journey with it. J
Peace and Love
Dean James x
www.deanjamesart.co.uk
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