Masks

Robert Silverberg's The Silent Invaders is set in a future where Earth is a galactic power and has been infiltrated by two separate alien species, each intent on winning Earth over to their side of an ancient battle.

The extraterrestrial double agents disguise themselves as humans through surgical alterations. For his 1977 cover art, however, surrealist Don Ivan Punchatz chose to depict this two-faced behavior with a visual metaphor: Masks.

For similar reasons, masks frequently appear on covers that feature human-passing robots and cyborgs – it's a natural way to depict a human visage while also showing what's beneath.

Take Michael Presley's 1980 cover to The Humanoids by Jack Williamson, featuring a face that reminds me of a certain current US president.

This calls to mind a couple of similar covers.

First, Davis Meltzer's 1972 cover to Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick (I know I just featured it in my Ray Guns post, but it's relevant once more). Second, Boris Vallejo's eerie 1978 cover to Keepers of the Gate, by Steven G. Spruill.

This Noriyoshi Ohrai illustration might not quite fit the definition of a mask, but it covers the same theme.

Robert A. Heinlein's Double Star centers on an impersonation: Out-of-work actor Lorenzo Smythe is hired to pretend to be the recently-kidnapped interplanetary politician John J. Bonforte, who he happens to closely resemble.

The mask on Barclay Shaw's 1986 cover includes a few ribbons, for that actorly Shakespearian vibe.

Masks don't always signal a deception. Sometimes they just look extremely cool or incredibly creepy.

Take Terry Oakes's 1980 game cover for "Warlock: the Game of Duelling Wizards," for example. I need some badass gulls hyping me up, too.

These two ornate examples come from Ron Walotsky covers.

Even more ornate? The gems and circuitry of Michael Whelan's 1980 mask for a cover to Joan D. Vinge's The Snow Queen.

Dean Ellis and Frank Kelly Freas have a few admittedly workman-like examples.

I don't know what's happening on Daniel Horne's back cover art for Heavy Metal's December 1983 issue. Maybe the woman just pulled the mask off of the phantom and a big tree branch immediately grew out of his face? Or was she wearing the mask? And is he sitting on a mushroom?

This artist behind this 1973 cover to Fred Saberhagen's The Black Mountains isn't credited, but it looks like Colin Hay to me: If you check out his work over here, you'll find some identical trails of airbrushed fog.

Syd Mead often featured masks in his visions of a sleek future world, prompting some questions about where Daft Punk got the design for their own helmets.

Mead spoke about Daft Punk in a 2014 Fast Company interview that doesn't appear to be online anymore – bless the Internet Archive, where you can still check out his thoughts. He doesn't mince words.

Faces of all kinds are a big surrealism motif, so Punchatz was far from the only surrealist to depict masks. Here are some unsettling examples, starting with Henri Lievens.

I'm at a loss to understand what's happening on Hans Ulrich Osterwalder and Ute Osterwalder's 1974 cover to Malpertuis by Jean Ray.

I love this uncredited 1974 cover to Michael Moorcock's Breakfast in the Ruins.

This 1971 cover to R. Buckminster Fuller's Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth is also impressive.

Granted, this one's less of a mask and more of an homage to a 1956 MC Escher artwork called "Bond of Union." I don't know the artist, although there is a visible signature that appears to say "Gomez."

According to ISFDB, this 1973 cover to Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin, was among Jim Burns' very first science fiction cover illustrations.

Let's end on this face wielder, by Jack Guaghan for the February 1980 cover to Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine.

Check out my Gas Masks roundup for a look at the more practical side of masks.

Cool Link

Lone Sloane's Relativity - Escher in The Palace

Lots of stunning artworks in this article covering Philippe Druillet's baroque comics book series Lone Sloane. Here's just one example, an homage to MC Escher's "Relativity," although you'll also spot his homage to Böcklin’s "Isle of the Dead" if you click through.

Music Rec: '80s Sophisti-funk and R&B Jams Mix - the precursor to vaporwave.

Next Time: Dreams and Daydreams