Life Mask

by Brian Wallace

Title

Life Mask

Artist

Brian Wallace

Medium

Sculpture - Plaster Of Paris

Description

When I was in my early twenties, I found a product that allowed you to make molds of inanimate objects. Of course, the first thing I wanted to do was make a life mask of my face. I was alone so had to prepare with that in mind. I used a cardboard box, lined it with plastic, filled it with a mixture from the product that was like a fast setting gel. I fixed two straws that could slide through the bottom of the box and stuck the other ends into my nostrils. I then pushed my face into the gel goo and tried to stay motionless for a few minutes while the mixture "set".

Since there was no mention or examples of using this concoction on your face, I was cautious not to put my face too far in. I succeeded however with creating a mold of the major facial features. I then mixed plaster of Paris and poured into the negative mold and when it hardened, I had a positive mold of my face.

After the plaster of Paris hardened, I painted it with watercolor to match flesh and hair coloring.

The year was around 1972. I had been renting the upstairs of a home in Linthicum Heights MD, from a retired elderly couple who still lived on the first floor. When the agreement was made, they told me they would never go upstairs to my living area.

After my little "life mask" project/experiment was completed, a thought came to my mind... I was curious to see how real I could make it look...

I had two bedrooms in the upstairs portion of the house. The spare bedroom had two single beds. I used one of the beds to make it look like someone was sleeping in it and arranged my "life mask" on the pillow in such a way as to cover the edges of the mask but show the major facial features. The result was very realistic! I left it that way for a while, not really thinking much about it.

Then, one day when I arrived home from work, the old man that I was renting from met me at the door. He asked who I had upstairs? I told him what I had done, feeling a little embarrassed. He seemed to smile a little while I was imagining what we was really thinking about me. It wasn't until much later that I remembered how he told me they would never go upstairs. That's when I realized they had lied to me.

Uploaded

May 12th, 2018

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