This mask touches and exhilarates centers of life
beyond our present reality. It serves as a means
of transforming the ordinary to the
extraordinary, the natural to the supernatural.
The mask has always been used as a ritual agent
of transformation in Meso-America. The ritual
wearer of this mask, the shaman, not only
represented the God; he was the God. He
manifested the life force. Through that ritual
transformation joining the worlds of spirit and
nature, man and god fused in the zone of
mysterious transition marked by the mask itself.
This mask is the seat of the soul, where the
outer and inner worlds meet. We are left to
ponder over the mysteries of the universe hidden
behind this mask, and the awakened insights it
has brought to our own inner spirits. This mask
radiates energy from its sensitive dynamic
expression and clearly delineated physical
features. The Olmec artist's desire and ability to
idealize the human face as a purely natural form
of beauty and spirituality is marvelously
displayed here. Powerful forces originating in
the world of spirit seem to be embedded in the
mask. Spirituality is also hinted at by the slightly
downturn mouth and shaved teeth, suggestive,
of course, of the symbolic were-jaguar. It
evokes the ideal beauty of the human
countenance and man's basic spiritual nature.
The subtle and sensitive carving of this fantastic
work of art leaves us breathless. It is an
astounding work of art which makes our
imagination capable of conceiving the
inconceivable, the divine.
- (PF.4263)
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