To start with, I would like to introduce to you a very interesting form of art. Its name is 'assemblage' and comes from french, meaning a gathering, set. Actually, in arts it means something sort of alike. Assemblage is usually a three or two dimensional picture, consisting of different materials, textures and objects. The technique has its origins in the beginning of the 20th and developed along with such movements like dadaism and other forms of collage. However the form seems simple or even primitive (and in fact it had to face a lot of criticism, because the more conservative individuals considered a bunch of random objects to be far from arts), many artists got really interested in it and even experimented with assemblage. These were for example Picasso, Dubuffet and Duchamp.
The artists that influenced this form of arts the most (or rather were influenced by it) are:
Ever heard of Tadeusz Kantor? In the context of assemblage, you definitely should! It was a polish painter, director and scenographer from the southern region of the country. He is well known for his works of art and also being a professor in the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and the founder of an Independent Theatre under the nazi occupation, during the II World War.
The one on the left is an example of an assemblage made by him in 1968. Its polish title is 'ambalaże, przedmioty, postacie' and it presents a set of (at the first glance) random elements. There is a woman in the right bottom corner, a box at the very bottom, a fragment of a face and a red umbrella, followed by a yellow square. The whole picture remains pale when it comes to colours, however a small piece of the background is blue. Still, when you look a bit closer it starts to seem more legitimate. Maybe the umbrella is useless, since the shy is blue?
Finally, after all the lessons on masks, inspiration and cultures we got the precise task! That will be creating our own mask, inspired by any culture, or an aspect of culture if we are particularly stubborn. I probably will be, but I'll come to that later. During the last lesson, we were to draw some sketches, projects or any ideas that came to our minds, then choose one, mix them all and generally decide what the mask is going to look like.
What inspired me?
Before we were told exactly what to do, I had a brief idea about what my mask is going to represent. And nothing in the world can change my mind- I want to make a scarecrow's mask. A quite creepy and psychedelic one. Talking about inspiration, well, there are a few things that combined together made me sure this idea makes sense. The first one, was my visit to the countryside, where a big part of my family lives. The second, was the time of year. Autumn there looks really amazing, and probably the most beautiful view was an empty field with just one scarecrow standing in the middle of it. This reminded me of an early-Pink Floyd recording from their first psychedelic album. The song is peaceful and not really controversial, but I'm into such music this season... I guess it gives a perfect impression of what I saw in the countryside. The combination of those factors, plus the upcoming halloween made it clear: a creepy scarecrow's mask is exactly what I want to do! Once again, to make sure aspects of culture were my inspiration I'll write them down:
-the country's culture, so sort of folklore
-simple psychedelic music, so late 1960s culture
-autumn's mood, especially the traditions present in polish culture since the slavic customs connected with recalling ghosts (so the dark, scary aspect of november culture)
My scarecrows!
Here are the lads I managed to draw during the lesson... To be honest, they all have different features and one of them will win my inner competition. None of them will avoid judgement! So here we go... The thing they all need to have in common are definitely round eyes and a nose made out of a stick.I guess the straw is also crucial for a real scarecrow, but not suitable for each type of masks down below.
The gardener
Here we have our first candidate- a very classical one. Hair made of straw, mouth out of buttons and a typical victorian upper-class holiday hat. Very handsome, but I'm not convinced when it comes to the mouth. I came up with a bit more creepy idea....
The potter
An alternative to the guy above is this one. Is it noticeably different? Well,
first of all the vintage, oldschool pot on the top of his head gives him a more DIY look which I honestly prefer. The second thing I like about him is the mouth- way more psychedelic smile (now I realised it's Tim Burton-inspired- remember the mouths in 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'?). Still, the straw looks attractive on him. The hair along with the nose are the features I'm undoubtedly going to leave.
The pumpkin head
Is a regular scarecrow's face too mainstream? I'm not sure yet, but just in case it was, I've drawn a pumpkin (wasn't there a horror film about a scarecrow with such a vegetarian head?). I've even done a dressed-up-as-a-scarecrow version of
this guy. Still, I found out the pumpkin has a lot of disadvantages when it comes to the creation of the mask: it will be really inconvenient to stick layers, while other people will be easily making smooth masks at the same time.It also looks too chaotic for me, even on the picture, so I'm scared to think how it would come out in practice... So yes, the pumpkin head is an original idea, but I might be either too lazy or too little talented to make it stunning.
The verdict
I guess I will stay with the regularly-faced scarecrow, but the one with a drawn "sewed" mouth and a pot at the top of his head. He really appeals to me, has this creepy vibe, is much easier to make and requires using only materials that are possible to come by. I made a decision, maybe quickly but when it comes to arts I rather listen to my heart than consider advantages and disadvantages for hours...
Look out crows! Here we come!
This is the question everyone should be able to answer, no matter if he considers himself an artist or not. Why? Because in everything we do, we should have the ability to distinguish between inspiration and plagiarism. Otherwise we might find ourselves really troubled. First of all, inspiration has nothing to do with a copy. It is this gentle force that pushes you to co concentrate on something particular or even, yes, borrow elements of something, but just to put it in your own arrangement. As simple as that. Inspiration is just a brief idea, with which you can do whatever you like. The number of sources of inspiration is a great proof. Some may be inspired by elements of nature, music, artistic currents or cultures. And it doesn't mean they take it all and repeat. They may scoop a bit of what they consider the best and mix it with something completely different or create a totally new thing by improving the old one.
The Kashubian Mask
To incorporate the topic of inspiration to the previously discussed masks, we had a task to find inspiration for creating one. Not any inspiration of course! We were to find something in the Kashubian culture, so an area that should be well-known. Among many ideas, there was one that really didn't want to leave me in peace. I could have done lots of different masks, but I had my mind set on an old Kashubian teapot my granny owned. It was all covered in floral designs, seemed our household symbol of this beautiful region. This made me wonder... Why not turn it into a mask? Just on paper, so that it doesn't do a lot of damage? Here is the result:
Not really. But there is one thing both of these creepy masks have in common. I probably wouldn't hang any of these in my bedroom. Just the psychedelic facial impression of both wouldn't make me feel safe at night.
Here we have a venetian-inspired, so called 'jolly mask' undoubtedly showing a fake smile of a joker on the left and a western african tribal mask on the right. After analysing those two for a couple of minutes I haven't spotted any significant similarities. Is it just me? The differences on the other hand are pretty obvious. Even the facial expressions vary a lot. While the joker smiles with wickedness, the african lad seems to say 'I'm disappointed'. And I can see this disappointment in his round empty eyes. Concerning the material, my first impression was that the tribal mask had to be a nuisance for the one wearing it- looks so heavy and is actually huge, while the minute joker, probably made of something super-light just glimpses in triumph. I guess the african mask is clay-made, maybe with some wooden elements (though it seems too smooth for wood). And just have a look at the decorations! The venetian guy must have been painted really carefully- every line is perfectly exact, all the little bells evenly stitched and the lips... well everyone who tried to use a lipstick at least once knows that these lips are a masterpiece! Yet the african cousin of this venetian beauty also has some decorations, simply some more eco-friendly ones: the shells and straw do the job as well! The last thing that puts those masks in different categories is obviously their origin and usage. Still, both might be considered a decorative element by the more thick-skinned people than myself...
In African culture, no matter in which part of the continent, masks have always played an important symbolic role. They were used as an irreplaceable element of ceremonial costumes. Whatever the event was connected with (usually it’s a combination of religious and social issues) wearing masks was crucial. Their importance was largely determined by their metaphoric function. They were mainly used to represent the spirits of the dead forefathers of certain communities, so wearing them seemed to be an attempt to take control over the evil forces by recalling souls to life. What is also significant and noticeable is that very often the masks possessed typically animal features. This was supposed to represent unification with nature, a clear indicator that all things happening in this world are connected with each other. That’s actually pretty much what African philosophy is all about.
THE POWER OF WOOD!
Majority of African masks is made of wood for several reasons. The most obvious one is that it is not a problem to come by this material: forests surrounding villages have plentiful of it. What is more, trees are believed to have spiritual souls which leads in turn to making the masks more ‘powerful’. Quite often sacrifices are being offered before a tree is cut down, to make sure the spirit living within it gives permission for carving the mask. Later on, but not too often, the masks may be splashed with sacrificial blood to make the power of the object bigger. Obviously this effective ritual might be skipped, so that wood decoration requires only dying with natural pigments (out of vegetables, plants, tree bark, seeds or even insects). In some tribes other materials might be used instead of wood. These are bronze, copper, ivory, glazed pottery, raffia, textiles etc. usually decorated with shells, bones, animal skins or vegetables.
A SHORT LESSON ON GEOMETRY
Geometrical patterns are probably the most common ones when it comes to decorating African masks. Actually every single pattern has a different meaning in every culture, so it is difficult to distinguish between them. They can for example be symbols of gender, history or social status of a person wearing it. As we may easily observe, many patterns seem to be similar to Islamic art, which is due to the spread of Moslem faith in Africa.
A PRESTIGIOUS JOB…
The best career option in an African tribe is definitely becoming a mask artist. This provides respect among other members of the community, although requires a broad knowledge, not only about carving techniques but also their impact on the value of each mask. An African tribal artist definitely has to know everything about symbolism and spiritual issues. What is worth mentioning, a training for such a trade demands at least three years’ education.
There is definitely something special about masks, something fascinating but a little creepy at the same time. Mostly because we associate them with assuming a fake identity. Whatever the mask shows, we can only guess what might be found behind it. That is probably why they have always attracted a great deal of interest. There is just so much to wonder about, so much to discuss! It's also worth to look at the wide variety of masks- they find adoption in so many areas, starting with theatrical, ritual or other decorative e.g. venetian masks, ending up on... yes, balaclavas which also are kinds of facial covers!
Mighty Dionysus!
When it comes to the actual origin of masks, theories are biased. Most of historians claim that they were used firstly in ancient Greece, during festivities in honour of a god Dionysus, so they have clearly theatrical derivation. Some on the other hand believe the tribal masks were used during rites, hundreds of years before the Greek even came up with an idea of theatre. As it often happens, the truth may lay somewhere in between, so I am most likely to think that our ancient ancestors were inspired by more primitive cultures and decided to kind of adapt the concept of masks for their own benefit. Leaving the creative tribal artists and their major or minor influence aside for a moment (there's definitely much more to say about them, so we'll get back to the topic later on) let's now focus a bit on the importance of masks in European culture. Of course, we have indisputable proofs that the Greek had a lot to do with them. And what the Greek did their best, the Romans took and sacrifised as their own. Theatre was one of those areas as well, but it's not the history we are about to concentrate on. Ancient masks, worn during performances were simple, with clearly remarked emotions. Their value varied, starting with simple white, almost not decorated ones, ending on amazing pieces of art, made of luxurious materials. Surely everything depended on the status of a theatre. I guess the quality of masks was slightly different in a prestigous Roman one and somewhere in a poorer Greek polis. Anyway, the very idea of wearing a facial cover was just perfect for performances. Just imagine what a thrift that was! One actor could play an unlimited number of roles without being recognised! What is more, the plays gained a lot of expression and aesthetic value.
A Few Kilometres and Centuries Later...
Certainly I was not the only one in my class, who after hearing 'we'll be working on masks' came up with the least creative idea: 'oh, so I'll make a venetian mask!' Why did I call it the least creative? Simply because it is probably the first collocation with the word 'mask' we may think of. Giant, decorative, glittering and a little creepy- these are the signatures of Venice, which became internationally famous thanks to the carnival held in that italian city, firstly attended only by local noblemen, since XVIII century considered a tourist attraction. While this type of european masks is strictly associated with entertainment or theatre, we shall not forget about what a significant role they fulfilled in a previous period. And it had little to do with fun back then... They were the facial coverages of the doctors during the plague of Black Death (a positive accent in it all was that it actually shows there was an attempt to be hygienic, even in the Middle Ages). They were to prevent those medicals from being contaminated, when they visited houses to cure people. However, with our knowledge nowadays we may assess the effectiveness of this method as... well, generally poor...
Gods Listen to Those, Whose Faces Are Covered...
We, Europeans in our huge pride and sense of genius might be very likely to believe that it is ancient Greece, where the tradition of wearing masks derives from. But if we just opened our eyes to a variety of sources we would immediately find out wrong we are... I'm sorry, but the Asians were here first! The masks found on distant islands, for example of Indonesia or Philippines speak volumes and are actually older than the greek theatre. To be honest, every single Asian country has a tradition in which masks, used especially on celebration purposes play a crucial role. Whether it's Japan, Korea, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, there is a specific form of making and using them. Obviously, these are the ritual masks we're talking about and they are connected either with religious customs (hinduism, buddhism, shamanism etc.), making attempts to catch a contact with the dead spirits or magical ways of curing diseases. The masks are really varied in form, depending on their roles and origin. They also have a lot to do with the african masks, which were actually the topic of my investigation.
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