Masque

20% OFF SALE!
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***$256 >>>>> SALE PRICE***
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“Masque”  J.M.Liles © 2025
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Acrylic on canvas (16x20)
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Original art by Minneapolis local, queer, non-binary artist.
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Ship in U.S. ONLY
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Framed. 
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Three figures huddle together, their identities layered in bone, flesh, and mask. A skull grins beside a face half-erased, while a horned figure leans close in companionship. Above them, cutout letters spell a question — Are you OK in there? — a ransom note of concern, suspicion, or self-interrogation.

This work confronts the strangeness of identity: the selves we give to the world, the faces we wear for survival, the roles we play until they become familiar, even friendly. Over time, we grow close to these other selves, sometimes more comfortable with the performance than with the vulnerable core.

The irony is sharp: what seems most fragile — our hidden depths — endures. What seems most solid — our outer face — is delicate, easily stripped away, broken, or disguised. The masque both protects and alienates, offering safety while obscuring the truth beneath.

Masque holds the uneasy intimacy between who we are, who we pretend to be, and the question that lingers behind every layer: Are you OK in there?
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