Mask Series: Justine Reyes
Xanadu Gallery

Written by Stephanie Alberico

Pumpkins, ghouls and goblins, costumes, hay rides, haunted houses—ah, the joys of Halloween. Since Halloween is my favorite holiday and October my favorite month, I thought I might review something spooky. Using the holiday as my motivation, I went to see an art exhibit that sounded frightening. I enjoy being scared and Justine Reyes’s Mask Series proved to be both disturbing and fascinating. These were large photographs of just the artist’s face. All of the color images were self-portraits of Reyes wearing different types of masks, which she created out of pantyhose, hand-sewing them with “various materials such as wire, lace, beads, hair, plastic mesh, plastic bags, and thread,” according to the artist statement.

I was pleasantly surprised by the twisted angle the artist created with these peculiar shots. Bright spotlights accompanied all of the photos and this seemed to intensify their eeriness. All of the images were shot from the same camera angle, which was dead center. Reyes largely depended on bold colors to seduce her audience. The contrast of the black, red, and white colors caught my eye and made the images more appealing. The spotlights and lighting created shadows within the photographs. These were not your everyday, plastic Freddy Krueger masks. The photographs took a look at the offbeat from a feminine point-of-view.

The artist statement said that by photographing herself wearing the masks, Reyes was “making public a private performance. The masks themselves are made out of material that is normally hidden under the clothes, close to the body and private. Here they are exposed.”

As Reyes also suggests, I quickly grasped the symbolism of the pantyhose as a traditional mask for criminals or bank robbers. However, I did not realize there were sexual undercurrents here, as well. The artist statement said, “This suggestion of illicit behavior is juxtaposed with the overt sexual connotation of placing undergarments over the head. The act of placing the crotch of the pantyhose over the mouth and face is both [an] erotic and obscene gesture.”

The shots were revealing, but also intricate, intriguing, and well planned. Their mystique enticed me, leaving me wondering about the artist and what she was trying to express. They did not make sexual references in the traditional sense with body parts or nude subjects. They were inherently sexy and symmetrical. In one particular shot, the artist has a plastic bag plastered over her mouth, as if she were suffocating. Another shot only exposed the artist’s eyes, while covering the rest of her face. It seemed Reyes was toying with the idea of what masks really hide or represent.

In her statement, Reyes said, “The mystery that the mask creates highly sexualizes it. There is a tension created by veiling. Some people are afraid of not knowing what lies beneath, while others are enticed by the boundary (not only the physical . . . but the psychological boundary) that the veil creates. Mask Series explores both the empowerment and the vulnerability of masking one’s identity through the use of the seduction and fear that the mask creates.”

Think about it. Masks create mystery and many of us are afraid of the unknown. Personally, I am intrigued by the enigmatic and maybe that’s why I was so drawn to the photos. More importantly, masks are worn to hide something, begging the question, does this artist have something to hide? We are left curious as to what dark truth may lie beneath the surface.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit and was enthralled by its mystery. We all have some skeletons in our closet, right?

Xanadu Gallery | 217 Thompson St., (btw W. 3rd and Bleecker St.)
www.xanaduart.com