The Mask

Masks of Eternity

We all walk through this world not as we are, but as we want others to see us.  We realize the incompetence of the mirror in divulging our self and choose instead the mask, a way to see outside of ourselves without disclosing who we really are.  We are born without it, but very quickly we learn that the only way to be "known" is to put the mask on, to disguise the true self in favor of the created self.  In that way, we are all artists.  Perhaps, in our death, the mask is temporarily lifted, but only momentarily and not to the appreciation of the audience.  Morticians know this well.  The innocence of our beginning quickly changes into a facade of our being.   As Nietzsche told us, we are never unmasked.  In these works, I have revealed the dilemma posed here, asking the viewer to meditate on their self relative to the experience of living.  The confrontation is moderate in that I am not asking for the viewer to choose, but simply suggesting ways of "seeing" existence.