Looking for some new head gear for your next party? While many reach for a cap to cover up those bad hair days, Spanish designer Kepa Rasmussen would rather sculpt a mask. Crafting highly innovative facial sculptures under his label Aardvark K Mask, Rasmussen's conceptual pieces are hand-crafted expressly to make heads turn.
posted by netbros on Feb 26, 2009 - 4 comments

In one of the largest jewelry heists in history, robbers -- at least two wearing women's wigs and dresses -- relieved a Harry Winston boutique of $108 million worth of diamond rings, necklaces, and watches. Despite criminal investigation teachings that robbers "have better things to do with their money than to buy an array of masks and disguises" and will opt for functional attire, many thieves express themselves creatively and impractically through costumery, dressing as Dracula and Black Father Christmas, a tree, Greek prime ministers, clowns, and ghosts, while others cover their faces with duct tape, cookie dough, drywall, and baking-flour-and-ketchup. Minimalists just wear men's underwear and women's thongs on their heads.
posted by terranova on Dec 6, 2008 - 29 comments

Much of the extraordinary variety of traditional art from Africa comes from the countries in West and Central Africa, because of the availability of wood (often called exotic woods) and metal. Hamill Gallery has organized their excellent site to show the materials, including textiles, metals, beads used, as well as the names of the many tribes and categories, such as animals. The images are accompanied by information about the art. The Yale University Art Gallery also has a nice selection of African art with information. The Africa Image Library offers an archive of images, which give a little backdrop to the lives and environment of the artists and artisans in various parts of Africa. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Oct 25, 2008 - 5 comments

There is a litmus test that has predicted the winner and loser of every presidential election over the past 100 years. If the Dow has risen 3.3 percent or more in October, the incumbent party has never lost. If the Dow has dropped 0.5 percent or more, the incumbent party has never won. That is, until 2004. Perhaps a more reliable test is the relative popularity of halloween masks; track your favorite candidate at Amazon or BuyCostumes.
posted by twoleftfeet on Oct 11, 2008 - 31 comments

"The Photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard (May 15, 1925 - May 7, 1972) suffered a fate common to artists who are very much of but also very far ahead of their time. Everything about his life and his art ran counter to the usual and expected patterns. He was an optician, happily married, a father of three, president of the Parent-Teacher Association, and coach of a boy's baseball team." "His images had nothing to do with the gritty "street photography" of the east coast or the romantic view camera realism of the west coast. His best known images were populated with dolls and masks, with family, friends and neighbors pictured in abandoned buildings or in ordinary suburban backyards." His most well known and last photography series "The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater" (1972) was based on the short story by Flannery O'Connor, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." [more inside]
posted by Del Far on May 28, 2008 - 13 comments

Photos of WWI poison gas and flamethrowers. [more inside]
posted by damn dirty ape on Sep 14, 2007 - 44 comments

Striking photographs of the masked wrestlers of Mexico, Lucha Loco by Malcolm Venville. [via the amazing everlasting blort] [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Feb 3, 2007 - 14 comments

Female Mask Site Galleries. Here you will find all the galleries that have been updated in 2005-2006. (via this thread; some images nsfw)
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese on Dec 11, 2006 - 17 comments

Other Africas. Critical observers have long noted that museum collections from Africa are composed largely of the spoils of colonial pillage. Thus the Africa we normally encounter in museums—the Africa of masks and ritual objects displayed on walls and in glass cases—is a fetishized Africa of colonial nostalgia. The objective of this exhibit is to offer images of Other Africas, perspectives that lead us away from the desolate and romanticized Africa of the Western imagination toward those places where African modernities are emerging.
posted by tpoh.org on Jun 4, 2005 - 27 comments

I have been thinking about masks lately. Masks are ancient and universal, our ancestors put on masks to become an other, to become a god, even unto this day. Greek tragedy and comedy began in the worship of Dionysos, the god of wine, intoxication, and creative ecstasy, in rituals where worshipers often wore or worshipped masks. Indeed, the word for mask in Greek drama was persona, now commonly used to describe constructed online identities. And so we understand ourselves as wearing masks, whole series of masks--behind which we find only emptiness, for we can never see ourselves truly.
posted by y2karl on Feb 24, 2005 - 30 comments

Death Masks (Keats, Newton, Etc.)
posted by gwint on Aug 31, 2004 - 16 comments

Sterile couture. A Dutch architect designs surgical masks for the Japanese.
posted by plexi on Apr 28, 2004 - 4 comments

mr. deadguy / biomorphs / death studios / ghastly creations / lubatti designs / nfx studios / monster mayhem / the monster lab / twisted toybox / 1313
posted by crunchland on Oct 20, 2003 - 16 comments

It's not too early to think about Hallowe'en. This year, why not go as Dr. Zira?
posted by plinth on Sep 20, 2003 - 5 comments

venetian carnival masks
posted by crunchland on Mar 4, 2003 - 12 comments

The scariest costumes this year represent those that crushed the dreams of many, bilked millions from strangers, and got away. Psycho Killers? Crazed Snipers? No, Forbes gives you: CEO Halloween masks. I know the kids will love going as Martha. It's a good thing.
posted by mathowie on Oct 29, 2002 - 14 comments