A masquerade for art lovers

The buzz of celebrating Mother’s Day is in the air but this buzz will take another leap with an International Masks Exhibition - “Masquerade of a Mother”being organized at Moments Mall, Kirti Nagar to commemorate the journey of a woman.

In India, masks are associated with ceremonies, used on festive occasions or to portray characters in performances and in re-enactment of mythological events. Keeping in mind the sacrificial, totemic, ritualistic, processional and theatrical usage of masks, the three-day exhibition (May 12-14) will showcase masks made by 300 national and international artists.

Presented by Nav Siddhar­t­ha Art Group, the displayed masks will portray inner feelings and aspirations of artists, as opposed to the concept of masks that hide human expressions and emotions.

The creative works will display diverse emotions of womanhood where a wide range of expressions of a mother’s conscious and sub-consciousness will be captured and replicated on the backdrop of a mask.

Talking about the innovative concept of painting on a mask Asurvedh, the exhibition’s curator says, “We created a one by one ft mask and produced 300 copies of it. These were sent to different artists living in all the states of India and even abr­o­ad. It was interesting how every artist came up with a unique expression and thus we had 300 masks, each different than its counterpart.”

Discussing his own creation in black and white, Asurvedh said, “My mask is a means to pull the viewer towards the importance of historical monuments which need protection. The faces on the top depict memories associated with the history of the monument.”
Most of the artists worked for the first time on this surface - which is a mix of raisin and French powder - and confess that it was challenging.

Vijaya Ved, an artist says, “It was a challenge to work on a mask as it is not a flat surface. I had to make sure that the face should not be hidden and yet the express had to be conveyed through this face. It was enjoyable.” 

The spiritual masks prepared by artists (as part of Krishna series) are depicted through symbolic figures such as a peacock feather or a lotus flower on the forehead or neck area of the mask.

 This exhibition will be open to public from 10.00 am to 10.00 pm at the atrium of Moments Mall, come May 12.