Masks: a reprise

I have written here about masks on twenty separate occasions (this post will make that twenty-one occasions), and my first book of artwork was titled Myth & Masks: Artwork by Paul Watson 2013–2015. They continue to fascinate me for many reasons. I wrote Masks, Deception, and Truth and Masks - a bit of politics and a bit of history back in 2014, which probably form the two foundational blog posts for the use of masks in my artwork. They contain a lot of historical examples of the perception and use of masks, but also one or two more modern examples, my favourite of which is this, from the first of those two posts: For possibly the most blatant example of the mask as a negative symbol we need only look at the most famous film series of modern times: the transformation of the whiney and annoying Anakin Skywalker into the fully evil Darth Vader is only complete when the iconic mask is finally locked into place on his face at the end of Revenge of the Sith, and his redemption at the end of…