Mask Dan
Carved from a single piece of soft wood, this oval face mask by a Dan carver of Côte d'Ivoire or Liberia features a wide forehead, large circular eye holes, and nose and mouth in high relief. The elliptical mouth exhibits a narrow slit separating the mask’s lips. The mask's rims are pierced with irregular holes for attaching the rest of the costume.
The border between Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia cuts across several ethnic groups, including the Dan, Wee, Kran, and Grebo. In Dan society, dangerous immaterial forest spirits are translated into the forms of human face masks. Whether or not they are worn, such sculptures are spiritually charged. Male performers, gle-zo, experience a dream sent by the mask spirit that allows them to dance it. In performance, the masks are integrated into the hierarchical system that governs political and religious life. Dan masks have been documented as the embodiment of at least a dozen artistic personalities.
Among these are:
• Deangle, who ventures into the village from the initiation camps to ask women for food;
• Tankagle and Bagle, who entertain through a range of aesthetically pleasing dances, skits, and mimes;
• Bugle, who historically leads men into battle;
• Gunyege, whose mask is worn by a community's champion foot racers in competitions.
The present example might be identified as Gunyege; once they are divorced from their performance contexts, however, mask forms are difficult to identify.
ORFELD IS A VIRTUAL ARTIST WHO MAKES OBJECTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF HISTORY AND PRESENT
He uses innovative approach to produce works that mark evolution in the artistic world.
The artist rethinks unique ritual objects from antiquity to 19th century by adding metallized coating, actualizing initial piece and give it a reborn.
Orfeld imprisoning, perpetuating it in a timeless way. He makes it exist differently. It is about bringing unfairly anonymous objects back to light.
Orfeld’s art confronts the viewer with a fusion — a form of temporal, cultural and artistic synchronization with our times.
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