Tag Archives: World Masks

From African Masks to Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch Spring Quarterly 2000 cover, photograph by Bruce Weber

by Christopher Agostino

From early on I was taking inspiration for face designs from the makeup and mask art of other cultures. During  the summer of 1999, I was able to initiate my company of artists in this process as we painted faces in African Mask inspired styles over 8 weekends for the opening of the Congo Gorilla Rainforest exhibit at the Bronx Zoo http://www.wcs.org/ .  None of the culturally inspired faces we paint can really be “authentic,” removed as they are from the culture that gives them meaning, so taking a traditional art as source material needs to be done with an understanding that we are artists finding inspiration in a visual image and we can claim no ownership of the intrinsic cultural content of that image. During the “Congo Summer” of 1999, I sometimes questioned the propriety of my being a white American in New York painting these wonderful African images, especially on the beautiful black faces they might be said to really belong to. It’s a tricky question I frequently confront as an artist and storyteller whose work includes cultural sources, and I try to be open about it. I was very gratified once when a woman trusted me enough to ask me to paint a Maasai design on her son’s face, telling me that this was his heritage but he knew nothing about it, so she wanted me to paint him and tell him the significance of the design.

Traditional Maasai bodyart, from a photograph by Art Wolfe in "Tribes"

Photo from Art Wolfe's tribes of a decorated Maasai.

Part of the profound beauty of a painted face is that you can’t see the color of the skin beneath. All you see are the eyes — the very human eyes. My explorations into the earliest human art and cultures convince me that we all truly are one people, sharing a universal view of life and our core aspirations, originating in a single fundamental culture — which anthropologists today tell us began with a small group of modern humans in Africa and subsequently spread around the world and diversified. By using cultural images, I believe we remind our public audiences of the unity of the family of humanity.

Whereas all of modern humanity may have sprung from that one, small unified group of humans in prehistoric Africa (perhaps, scientists say, a group of as few as 600 individuals), to use the term today “African Masks” or “African Art” is an inaccurate shorthand at best. Africa is a continent of many diverse countries and ethnic groups, and the mask and body arts of these cultures vary greatly. We found a wealth of images, styles and conceptual approaches to transforming a human face in our search for inspiration as we painted faces at the zoo that summer of 1999, from the rock paintings of the San bushmen of Southern Africa through the abstract spirit masks of equatorial Africa and north to the henna designs of the Berber. I have come to see that the experimentation that summer gave my company of artists a new overall perspective on facepainting as a larger art, including a foundation in stylizing and abstracting designs that take the artist beyond realist imagery.

My photo of the Abercrombie & Fitch model before they costumed him

In October of that year, the photographer Bruce Weber saw me working in this stylized “tribal” approach as I was painting at another New York event, and he hired me to paint a group of models in Florida for the Abercrombie & Fitch Spring Quarterly 2000. The foto he chose for the cover was of a model painted in a spirit mask inspired baboon design I had been experimenting with all that summer.

And it was while I was researching the mask and sculptural arts of Africa that summer that I read about how in 1905 Africa again became a source of inspiration for world culture as traditional sculptures and masks made their way to Paris and changed the approach of a whole generation of Western artists at the dawn of the Modern Art movement. As Frank Willet states in African Art: An Introduction (Thames & Hudson,1993), when masks from Africa were seen by Picasso and Matisse, “the revolution of twentieth-century art was underway.” 

"Spirit Mask" inspired baboon design from that Congo Summer, 1999.

That was a spark that set me into an ongoing exploration of this linkage between traditional and modern art, primarily through a series of fine art bodypaintings in which I blend iconic modern art images with the tribal bodyart and mask images that inspired them: the “Modern Primitive” series.

The first third of my book is about the lessons I’ve learned from cultural sources. To learn about my book, and about the other books mentioned here, go to: https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/books/

For a related blog post, see: From a mask to a painted face: https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/?s=from+a+mask+to+a+painted+face

The Omo River region in Ethiopia holds several cultures that still maintain some bodyart traditions. These geometric patterns in earth tones may be so different than the facepainting most people are used to, yet they make for very pleasant looking finished faces, and I find people are very receptive to being painted in this way.

This Surma photo from the wonderful book "African Ceremonies" has proven to be a style of design that adult women enjoy wearing. In the photo on the right, I copied the pattern of the original design while altering the colors because I was painting it on a caucasian face.

The designs of Surma males are different, in this example the men have covered their whole bodies in a white clay, then scrape the design into that white base so that their dark skin shows through to make the geometric patterns. In a regular facepainting setting I can't really imitate the scraping technique, so I imitate the pattern instead.

This face painting was for a demonstration on African bodyart for a student group at Columbia University, based on a sketch of Lobi facepainting from the book "Body Decoration".

Combining imagery with a simplified "Tribal" style

Spending 8 weekends working in one style allowed for a lot of possible areas of exploration, including trying faces using just pieces of designs or patterns from African cloth and masks.

Another design from a cultural source that makes a pleasant face for an adult. The original came from one photo I saw of bodypainting among the Loma people for a girl's coming of age ceremony, in which she will be painted in plant dyes that slowly fade over a few weeks, and once they have faded she will be eligible for courtship. Again, though, I have to approach this image primarily as visual inspiration for I have no full understanding of the cultural context.

We have also had the chance to bring an "African style" to theme events at other venues, including the Coney Island Aquarium where I painted these two stylized Starfish faces.

here's my friend Kate painting during the Congo Summer event. Having 10 artists at the zoo for 8 weekends gave me the chance to invite in some guest artists like Kate to work with us and try our Transformation approach.

http://www.agostinoarts.com

Face Painting Freedom is on the Rise

Snow Leopard

Werewolf Moon

by Christopher Agostino

News from the front: as we were facepainting at an event yesterday I noticed a marked increase in the understanding and acceptance by the people on line that we would be surprising everyone with what we paint on them, that everyone would get a unique, creative design. Beyond acceptance, there was a progressive sense of enthusiasm about the prospect of being surprised among many people waiting to be painted. The event was the North Hempstead Beach Family Festival and it’s an event we’ve painted at before. Whenever we return to an event our clients and the participants have an increased understanding of the creative approach we take, because they’ve seen it already. Yesterday, however, the general understanding I sensed in the crowd went beyond those people who knew our work — there seemed to be an overall feeling amongst the people waiting that getting a surprise facepainting would be fun.

I formed this impression over the course of the event through a number of small incidents. More than once, I heard an adult on line explaining to their child that they couldn’t be Spiderman because we would be surprising them with the design we painted, and doing it with real enthusiasm, saying “isn’t that a fun idea”. I had a few kids — friends or siblings who were being painted at the same time — talking to each other about how they’d have a contest to guess what each had been turned in to once they were all done. Several times a parent would bring a mirror over to show their kid the face in process, and the kid would say “no, I want to be surprised!” And for a portion of the day we had the occurrence that is part of the reason why we choose to paint this way: an audience — a group of adults and kids standing and watching us paint, remaking to each other about “what do you think this face is going to be?” and “look, what he’s doing now”.

So, why are we seeing this increase in excitement over being surprised? A large part, I think, is because we’ve been doing this at most events now for a few years and as a facepainting company we are increasingly confident in this approach —my artists know that it works, know that it can be creatively exciting both for them and for the people we paint — and confidence brings success. Our enthusiasm breeds their enthusiasm. And with practice we can present the concept better to the people on line and to the kids and adults as we paint them. For example, we’ve all learned that it’s better to tell a child they will be surprised before they have a chance to say they want to be Spiderman.

a standard display sign for public events

I also think that there is a gradual increase in the expectations of the public regarding facepainting. There are so many more good facepainters working these days that the standards are rising. There is an expectation of quality, and with it an understanding that facepainting (and bodypainting) can be very artistic. Mine is not the only company of quality painters in the NYC area, and people are getting used to facepainters who are artists. The most effective way to raise the status of facepainting as an art and industry is to paint exciting faces. Going back 25 years or more, over a course of years, I saw a distinct shift in the understanding within this NY market of what facepainting could be like as I and a number of artists I worked with or knew of began to paint full faces instead of cheek art. For quite a while I had to explain the difference to potential clients and event producers, and explain things like how a full face can be painted as quickly as a cheek design, along with selling them on why they want full faces at a large event because the impact is so much greater. Now, most clients expect full faces and I don’t need to explain those things anymore.

At the North Hempstead Beach Family festival we used what has become our standard approach to event facepainting. We asked each person we painted if they wanted to be “nice” or “spooky” and then surprised them with the design we painted. We didn’t take any requests. Our company motto is that “every face is different, every face is a surprise!” and so each artist, over the course of the event, will paint a wide range of ideas and styles of design. I feel that it is the collective effect of all the faces painted that is the essence of the art we present at an event, moreso than the results on any one face. If you want to see an example of what this approach results in at an event, in addition to the fotos here, check out the video slideshow from a similar event a couple of years ago, one of several “Every Face” videos I’ve posted to You Tube.

Giving everyone a surprise doesn't mean that the artist should be surprised too. We don't try to invent completely new faces all the time. This is a variation of the Chinese Opera design discussed a few posts earlier, a type of design I've been painting forever. This time transformed into a "Nature Goddess"

Likewise, this face is a variation on the "Spirit Mask" visual concept

I usually paint two people at a time, in order to paint quickly while still giving the base colors time to dry a bit as I work. So I'll put the base colors on one face, then start the 2nd face, and go back and forth like that. Yesterday, I sometimes played a creativity game of painting the two faces in variations of one concept. Here the concept I had in mind was a design motif, "spirals". I used the same colors for both faces. The girl on the left was wearing a very wild coat so I made her face loose and abstract. For the face on the right I took the concept into something more concrete, using the same colors and the spiral motif to make the sun.

Both of these girls wanted to be spooky, so while painting the two of them I used the same colors in two approaches: a tribalized spirit mask and a stylized vampire face I call the "Night Queen".

Two variations on Day of the Dead imagery, painted simultaneously, the one on the right from a classic Mexican folklore image of an upperclass woman skeleton in a fancy dress and flowered hat, called "La Catrina" in an illustration by Diego Rivera - this face was an idea that just occurred to me as I was painting the first girl. Part of the value of painting two people at once is that it gives me more time to think about each face as I go back and forth. Part of the fun of painting two people at once is that they get to watch the process they are going through up close on the face of the other person. These two girls were friends and excited about sharing the act of being transformed.

Sea Monster

Flamingo Sunset

Mermaid. My simplified adaptation of a design I saw by another facepainter.

"Imaginary Mermaid" - I give names to some of my more abstract designs like this, both so that I can tell a child a name for what I've painted on them and so that I have a shorthand key for ideas I'm working on. When i paint at an event, I have a written list of 50 or so ideas, ranging from specific things like "Elephant princess" to styles such as "loose" or motifs like "spirals".

Skull Zombie. In order to keep the ideas flowing and move myself through variations, I take a lot of inspiration from what a person is wearing.

Dinosaur Sunset. One thing w've learned is that it is possible to paint things you can be pretty confident that kids will like to wear while still offering a wide range of creative designs.

Here is a video of just about Every Face I painted at the Summer Solstice event at Socrates Sculpture Park in 2008:

http://www.agostinoarts.com

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From a Mask to a Painted Face — Face Painting from Cultural Sources

Geo Magazine, 1980, contained a few dozen photographs of Chinese Opera faces

Painted in 1983. In addition to learning to blend from copying a design like this, these Chinese Opera faces gave me an understanding that facepainting can be a true art, truly transformational, and not just a decorative art.

By Christopher Agostino

Taking a mask image from a cultural source and painting it onto a face is a primary methodology I use for expanding my understanding of what is possible on a painted face. My first steps in that direction were 30 years ago with Chinese Opera faces I saw in an issue of Geo magazine. When I start with images like these that are already makeup designs and re-create them on a face the lessons I am learning are primarily about finding new ways to fit designs to the structure of a face, a new range of imagery, and exploring different application techniques — for example, it was as I tried to imitate the way the red over the eyes fades into the white on the check in this Chinese Opera image that I first learned how to blend — and from Chinese Opera designs I moved onto similar explorations with other cultural sources of painted faces such as those from the Amazon and Papua New Guinea.

Paul Kirk's book "Man as Art" is an inspirational and definitive statement about he remarkable possibilities of bodyart in world cultures.

One of the earliest truly tribal designs I painted on a person (an adult) in a regular party setting - at a corporate family picnic in 1996

A different process is required — and different lessons learned — when the traditional image I start from is a physical mask rather than face or bodyart. Re-creating a physical/sculptural mask as a facepainting brings different challenges because you have to somehow transfer onto the organic shape of a human face the plastic form of the mask, such as the exaggerated geometric shapes on certain African masks, or the extended beak of a wooden Haida thunderbird mask. Here are lessons to be learned about how to place hard shapes on a softly curved face, and to create illusions that seem to alter the structure of the face. I think that the most useful lesson I’ve gleaned from trying to re-create a sculptural mask design, however, is in learning how to boil a mask down to its essence. Since I can’t really duplicate the full mask on a face, what can I achieve with facepainting that has the same impact as the physical mask?

“Spirit masks” is a somewhat generic descriptive term applied to masks from a variety of African cultures worn to bring supernatural spirits to life in traditional rituals. Such masks are intentionally bizarre in appearance with the features of faces and animals distorted into geometric shapes and graphic patterns. Since I can’t make eyes that are cylinders sticking 8″ off the face using just makeup, I’ve had to translate that idea into what I can do, so I’ve focused on using strong geometric linework to make the face startling. As I’m about to start a design like this on a kid I may ask them if it’s ok for me to make them look really, really strange — and usually get an enthusiastic “yes”.

An early attempt at a Spirit Mask, from the event at the Bronx Zoo in 1999

Another early attempt at a Spirit Mask

I have found the complexity of the masks of Native American Northwest Coast (NWC) cultures the most challenging to re-create. Part of the struggle is due to the intricacy of the symbolic imagery on the masks. Whereas masks like the African “Spirit Masks” primarily employ geometric signs and patterns to carry symbolic content — patterns which be simplified and imitated to have the same visual affect even if they don’t have the precise cultural content — NWC masks employ recognizable and pictorial animal imagery much more difficult to duplicate simply.  A traditional NWC mask-maker learns very specific forms to symbolize the mythic characters they depict — such as the precise shape the eye must be for Kwikwis, the eagle of the undersea in the Kwakiutl culture. As Franz Boas states in his book Primitive Art, once the proper symbols are included the artist’s concern becomes the unity and aesthetic achievement of the overall design, and they do it with a remarkable finesse of design style, beautifully fitting the complex imagery onto the shapes of the mask. Like African masks, and the masks of so many cultures, the NWC wooden transformation masks are sculptures worthy of the museums where they sit in cases and hang on walls, but their true raison d’être is just the same as the “Spirit Masks” — to be worn in performance at rituals to bring the gods and myths to life.

I had quite a number of examples available of faces painted at events for the article in my book on African “Spirit Masks”. We spent the summer of 1999 at the Bronx Zoo painting faces inspired by traditional African art for the opening of the Congo Gorilla exhibit, and this style of design has been part of my usual bag of tricks ever since. For the article on Northwest Coast masks, however, I had few examples from faces at events, and none that were successful, so I painted a model in my studio for this one. There is a fundamental cosmology the underlies much of NWC mask culture, and it includes the concept that there was an earlier time in which celestial beings lived on earth and then departed to live in the heavens. These celestial/ancestral beings can return to earth in the guise of humans, and they are depicted in these masks both in their celestial form and in their human form, which is dramatically demonstrated in ritual performances in which these wooden transformation masks will open and alter their shape through ingenious devices to show first the ancestral being and then the inner human. In the NWC coast example for my book, I relied on the humanity of my model (as we facepainters do) and her eyes to exemplify this concept of transformation, from celestial eagle to the eagle in human form.

The Eagle in celestial form, inspired by Northwest Coast Indian culture transformation mask

The Eagle in Human Form

From the Nuxalk culture of the Pacific Northwest, the closed image depicts a celestial bird figure of some sort.

When the mask opens during the ritual performance, revealed inside is the figure in human form (notice how the beak for example is now depicted more like a human nose), and the humanized bird-face is surrounded by a sun-like orb indicting its celestial nature.

Edward Malin's book "A World of Faces: Masks of the Northwest Coast "includes very useful simplified analytical sketches of the traditional mask elements

An early Spirit Mask attempt in which I used this geometric approach to create a specific animal, a baboon face

More recently I have been making Spirit Masks that are more deliberately spooky, and not just strange

The first third of my book, Transformations! The Story Behind the Painted Faces, chronicles my investigation of cultural sources of face and body art, and how I have incorporated those discoveries into my work.

To learn more go to: https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/books/

To learn more about our programs and performances:  http://www.agostinoarts.com

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