Changing Faces: Traditional and Contemporary Mexican Masks

Cambiando las Caras: Las Máscaras Mexicanas Tradicionales y Contemporáneas

August 12 - November 18, 2017

Rotunda Gallery

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Changing Faces: Traditional and Contemporary Mexican Masks presents a selection of contemporary Mexican masks on loan from a private collection. The exhibition features three different, distinct design styles of Mexican masks: designs that predate the arrival of the Spanish in the region; those influenced by the arrival of Spanish; and the combination of the two styles that are born from the artist’s imagination.

Masks appear in virtually every region of the world and are one of the most ancient means of changing identity by assuming a new persona. Masks say as much about the people who make them, usually the community’s best artists, and the cultures that use them. Still used today in performances to entertain, distract, provoke, inspire, fear, and instruct the viewers and participants, masks are an important vehicle of cultural and spiritual power.

• Lunchtime Conversations with Curators: September 6, 2017, 12- 12:30pm

• Funded in part by Art Museum Gala Funds

Images: 

Left: Juan Carlos Sierra (Mexican – Tócuaro, Michoacán, 20th century), Chupacabra Skull, 20th century, carved wood, 8-3/4 x 11-1/4 x 4-1/8 inches, Collection of Tom Yost

Right: Unknown (Mexican – Chiapa de Corzo, 20th century), Patron – Parachicos, 20th century, carved wood, pigment and fiber, 7-1/2 x 6-5/8 x 4-3/4 inches, Collection of Tom Yost