In 2017 I had the good fortune of being commissioned by an acting troupe to design and create three masks for a play. The production, titled “Tales of the Holy Mountain”, would feature a series of vignettes inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 film Holy Mountain, and was to be performed at this year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival. I was astounded to hear that the actors wearing the masks were each about 60 feet tall. Not being previously aware that such large people existed I nonetheless set to work creating the masks. This was a good opportunity to try painting with wood stain, something I have wanted to try for a while. Happy with the results and not hearing back from the acting troupe for weeks, I was informed in a brief email that they did not receive the funding they hoped for and were dissolving the production. Quite a blow that I would not be receiving a commission fee for the work, but I was able to exhibit the masks as part of Nextfest 2017 in the workshop space of a local art store. The three original masks are 6-8 feet in height.
This project continued during my residency at Salem Art Works in 2018, and is ongoing. Three of these works were purchased by the City of St. Albert for public display, and the largest (11 x 7′) is installed at Salem Art Works in Salem NY.
BORYS TARASENKO 