John Stezaker: Masks

This exhibition catalog from Stezaker's recent show in Londonincludes eighteen collages that focus on the British artist's fascinationwith the hidden face. As the artist explains it, the masks are -a way ofnegotiating a threshold between the living and the dead, which in away is what I think all art is trying to do, it's trying to reanimate thedead. By meticulously placing found vintage postcard images oflandscapes and animal life over the features of little-known actorsfrom Hollywood's golden era, Stezaker creates new, almost shocking,images filled with imagined narrative possibilities. Extensive essay byCaoimhin Mac Giolla Leith.