gillian wearing on james ensor PrivAtE collEction. JAmES EnSor © DAcS 2012; courtESy mAurEEn PAlEy, lonDon. © GilliAn WEArinG
I love James Ensor because he was obsessed with masks. I too have the same passion for disguise and changes of identity. In my work I conceal in order to reveal depths of the self, whereas Ensor showed how we are all but masks hiding our real selves under a façade. It is the opposite of what the sociologist Erving Goffman would have called the ‘front stage’ personality, when we perform to an audience, as opposed to ‘back stage’ behaviour when no one is watching and we drop our guard. Ensor showed the back stage as the mask, hiding the more banal centre inside. What you saw was the satirized individual who could not help but show their true colours. The Great Judge shows a group of masks. The bodies are awkward and ill-fitting with the masks; some of the heads seem to rest on top of a body as if the body was a shelf and this was a still-life painting. Carnival masks sit alongside masks from Noh theatre and the Commedia dell’Arte, which are particularly fitting, as there is a sense of grim humour hanging over the work. A scared-looking skeleton (who represents the judge) looks like he is being mocked and cornered by the other masks. Are they trying to confront death, the final judgment for everyone, or are they laughing in the face of it? But that laugh would be hollow, since death is the ultimate judge and always wins. When I use a mask I see it as a layer waiting to be peeled back to reveal 12 ArtStudent_From the creators of Artists & Illustrators
meaning. I see the masks we create for ourselves as being another self or selves, and believe that these personas are necessary for the different social environments we occupy. Ensor painted masks before psychoanalysis would have become widely understood and available as source material. His use of disguise could be traced back to his early life. Ensor’s grandmother owned a souvenir shop, which, among other things, sold bric-a-brac, dolls, vases and carnival masks, and he would often be confronted by his grandmother wearing a ‘frightful mask’ before a carnival – a woman in her sixties trying to scare and entertain a five-year-old boy. One of the reasons I chose this painting instead of many similar works by Ensor is that The Great Judge has a plain background. I prefer such backgrounds in my own disguise work, reducing everything to what is necessary to capture the essence of the sitter or sitters. It makes the portraits more powerful and arresting. Ensor is an artist who I would place within my spiritual family. Within that family I would also include Cindy Sherman for her disguises and Diane Arbus, who seemed to evoke a mask-like face from every person she photographed, although their eyes would tell you that there were secrets to unfold. Ensor is the grandfather in this family tree – a kindred spirit. _ AS
James Ensor, The Great Judge, 1898, oil on canvas, 63×77cm Gillian Wearing, Me as Warhol in Drag with Scar, 2010, framed bromide print, 147×124cm
This is an extract from In My View – Personal Reflections on Art by Today’s Leading Artists by Simon Grant, published by Thames & Hudson (RRP £19.95). To order your copy at the special price of £14.95 including UK mainland delivery (overseas costs available on request), please call the distributor Littlehampton Book Services on (01903) 828503, quoting “TH191”. Offer is subject to availability. www.thamesandhudson.com