The Mask

Max Tzinman & Takashi Yamashita

October 16 – November  3, 2018
Opening reception: Thurs, October 18; 5:00-8:00 pm

In their show of new work at the Atlantic Gallery, Takashi Yamashita and Max Tzinman collaborate to explore what is hidden below the mask we all wear, consciously or unconsciously. The show is a dialog between two artists who want to go deeper into the meaning of life and is inspired both by the ancient tradition of ‘NŌ’ (能)` masks and the masks of conformity experienced in early life spent under a communist regime.  Their images explore what lies unseen behind the mask … Pain … Unease … Vulnerability … Emptiness …

The masks of ancient cultures have morphed in our time into human faces. Real feelings?  They may survive deep below the mask or they are completely suppressed.  Or maybe they never existed …   individual consciousness starts to disappear leaving a void … nothing is what it seems.

This is most evident in a mob.  Masks are part of the mob mentality we see online and offline … the masks of the leaders, the masks of the followers.  They facilitate anonymity and group-think and stop us from seeing others and ourselves.  Eventually the mask is all that is left until we reconnect with our individual humanity.

Max Tzinman was born in Romania and has lived in Israel, Canada and US, immersing himself in a multitude of cultures that influenced his artistic/philosophical concepts.

Takashi Yamashita was born in Japan and spent his early life in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Because of his upbringing he considers all his work to be an experimental dialogue between East and West.