Carnival

Faces from different cultures and times; faces that hide behind paint, powder, head scarf, leaf, clay and steel.
Faces that are masks: they hide and array at the same time.
The head scarf can give protection against the sand of the desert, or against the eager glance of men, the white facial paint and the white dots can avert curse, but at the same time white skin can show nobility. The paint, the mud, the greenery and the flowers can hide and can also preen oneself.
How do people hide and preen themselves in Japan, China, Ethiopia, Java, in the Sahara, in the Arabic world, or in the Philippines?

In the swirl of the Carnival one can step out of the accustomed settings of life. We can experience qualities that are secretly there deep inside us, qualities, which are not easy to express in everyday life.

These characters are dressed in paints, in roles, or some of them in both. Some faces that carry the imprints of different times and cultures show archetypes or different qualities (such as the warrior, the hero, the witch, the princess, the magician, the courtesan), but there are also faces where the different qualities are mixed.

And where there is neither paint nor powder, there life painted the mask on one’s face.

These paintings invite you to a game now.

Which face captures my attention?
Which face could I put on, which would I choose to hide behind?
What qualities do these faces show and how do the different faces look next to each other?

The places of the paintings can be changed. From the twenty two pictures one hangs separately: this is the face that the viewer can find him or herself mostly identical with in the swirl of the Carnival.
All the other paintings can go here and there, and we can find out how Darth Vader looks next the Muslim lady or next to Flora (borrowed from Botticelli)…

Have fun!

or

or

and so on...

To these pictures I found inspiration in the paintings of Botticelli, Fragonard and Ingres, in the photos of Hans Silvester and Steve McCurry, in the film Star Wars by George Lucas and in the Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackskon.


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Africa
20x15 cm oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Witch
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Media-Magnate
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Wise Man (sadhu)
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Behind The Chador
20x15 cm oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Darth Vader
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Ethiopian Mannequin
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Flora
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Geisha
20x15 cm / oil, / layered wooden board
2009

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Warrior
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Princess
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Hero (Superman)
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Javanese Singer
20x15 cm / oil, / layered wooden board
2009

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Chinese Actress
20x15 cm / oil, / layered wooden board
2009

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A kisember
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Bride from Koszovo
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Lady From Hunyadi Square
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Magician
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Courtesan (Mata Hari)
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Punk
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Tuareg
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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Yakan Bride
20x15 cm / oil, layered wooden board
2009

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