KABUKI DEMON is inspired by the makeup designs I had seen in reproductions of U-keo-e prints and by the extreme physical expression and formality of stance that I imagine Kabuki to be. The Samurai hairlines that are depicted in the prints particularly interested me; as the first stage in shaving my head back I wanted to capture some of their quality. My intention is not in making any kind of accurate study or recreation of Kabuki, but in channeling my impressions toward an expression that is interesting to me.
The mask-like qualities of Kabuki makeup follow the contours of the face while imposing a geometry of their own. Once the makeup was on, I found that it combines the starkness and power of the mask with the flexibility of the human face, creating a kind of animated mask that broadly projects facial expression.
I felt the character as both formally elegant and wild, unbridled, ranting. He is a being at some peak experience in a moment of extreme reaction. Comments from people who found him "scary," inspire me to call him a demon, though I think of him more as someone who contains and contends with demons.
Which leads me to ask, what demons of my own was I channeling, expressing or struggling with through this series of pictures?
Images created: August 26, 1997
Amused, amazed, appalled?
Insights, ideas, invective?
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