Flowermountain Folk Art

The traditional masks of the Calabrian town of Seminara are intended to chase away evil from the home, dispel fears and gossip with their exaggerated and grotesque features. The mask...

MISTO invites itself into your interior to ward off spells, evil spirits and evil influences. Sophie Dries reinvents the traditional Calabrian mask with her contemporary graphic li...

In Greek mythology, the name CARIDDI (Charybdis in English) belonged to a monster that lived in the sea between Calabria and Sicily and destroyed ships by swallowing them up and spitting them back out, generating dangerous whirlpools in the water. This myth is reinterpreted in the form of a mask, which inverts the traditional convex surface to create a concave volume inspired by the underwater world. The mask invites the gaze into the blue depths of its smooth interior, where an uncanny protrusion emerges in the shape of a nose, a signature motif in Giovanni De Francesco’s artistic production. Each nose-island is different from the others; every mask has a unique beauty accentuated by imperfections, smudges, and uncontrollable colors, invoking the unpredictability of fear. This perception overturns the ferocious symbolism of the legendary monster, rewriting CARIDDI as a welcoming narrative. The artist’s explorations of fear, danger, and the unknown become particularly poignant when placed in the recent historical context of Calabria and the Mediterranean Sea. In the exceptional conditions of the present moment, when hundreds of millions of people are spending more time at home than ever before in living memory, the homeware brand TRAME wants to share the inspiring and supportive influences of these Mediterranean ritual objects with the entire world. The masks, whether the traditional forms or the contemporary design interpretations, reveal a sense of both timelessness and contemporaneity in their aspirational evocation of a social life with more serenity and less fear. Details: - Dimension: approximately 28 H x 22 W x 8 D cm - Material: 100% Mediterranean terracotta clay - Technique: 100% handmade in Italy - Each handcrafted CARIDDI Seminara mask is unique. Picture on an indicative basis. - 14-days return policy - In stock Giovanni De Francesco (Bergamo 1976), lives and works between Milan and Paris. He is a visual artist dedicated to sculptural installations through the use of plastic materials, photography, video, painting and sound. Since 1997 he has taken part in many personal exhibits as well as collective ones. He an artistic consultant at the Luisa delle Piane gallery in Milan and is a founding member of the Monstera theatre company. He occasionally collaborates with Andre Branzi...

Mask 'Kanaga' Dogon tribe, Mali Circa 1950 Provenance: Swedish private collection, from the 1970s. Then inherited within the family One of the most popular types of masks in the Sang...

This is a plaster bust reproducing the Torso Gaddi, the famous fragmentary sculpture displayed in the Uffizi Museums in Florence, which inspired many great artists of the Renaissance...

Ditto potters with Antonio Bonamico. The ceramic masks of Seminara are ostentatious and grotesque, with deliberately frightening features to scare away ...

Blacked wood helmet mask (Gelede), large human head surmounted by a dog eating a snake which curves around the head. No perforation for attachment to costume from Yoruba, Nigeria. Pu...

Large sized Songye Female Kifwebe mask from The Congo circa 1920s. Traditionally, the Kifwebe mask is very symbolic in the Bantu culture of central Africa. Its striking colours and carving symbolise the battle between good and evil. Female Kifwebe masks represent femininity, the continuation of life and a good omen. These masks were used for wedding ceremonies, reproduction rituals and other such occasions. This large mask...

Beautiful wall art, wall hanging, tattered and very old, origin unknown.

A scarce large vintage African tribal beaded ceremonial crown altar headdress, the Yoruba peoples, Nigeria, West Africa, Mid-20th Century, featuring intricate sculptural form decorated in polychrome beads and nassa sea shells, depicting central warrior figure mounted on figural horse or donkey animal, flanked by four standing figures, atop cylindrical crown, adorned with lizards and mask. Many people refer to this type of altar item...

This plaster sculpture is a reproduction inspired by different Roman originals depicting the renowned Roman Emperor Marco Aurelio. The Emperor is dressed...

Large woven painted basketry wall mask Blackwater rivers area, Papua New Guinea. With open expressive mouth and mask fringed with feathers, striking mask that easily hangs on the wal...