Each animal is an end in itself… Every creature is its own reason to be.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, 1795

Mask is a modification tool, putting on a mask we immediately become different. We put on a mask and slip away from reality.

The mask appeared as a cult prop. Ritual masks depicted animals, spirits, mythological entities, forces of nature and were worn by participants of cult rituals.

In cult rituals, the mask served as a means of communication with spirits and mystical forces of nature. The ritual mask has the power of transformation.

The bearer ceases to be himself for the time of the rite and transforms into an entity depicted in a mask.

The mask is our other face.

Masks in the ancient theater personified dozens of human types and soul states. The Greeks called it "prosopon", that is, what we see in front of us. They also used the same word for the front of the head. That is, "prosopon" is both a face and a theatrical mask. 

The ancient Latins called the theatrical mask a similar word "persona". Over time, this became the name of the stage role, and then the role that a person plays in public life.

Now the mask continues to live in the virtual world, it is an avatar, a picture for proof.

We are all masked and just animals, though we are at the top of the food chain.

Created with acrylic paint on canvas in 2020.

Physical size — 30 x 40 Resolution — 3820 x 3820