Rich History Can Be Found Behind the Gallery’s Masks

“The Art of Masking the Human Emotions,” an exhibition of masks from around the world, closes Wednesday at Orange Coast College Fine Arts Gallery in Costa Mesa.

On loan from the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana are masks from Africa, the Pacific, South and Central America and Hawaii. A pre-Columbian mask is particularly rare.

One of the famous commedia dell’arte masks in this show is Nascone, or Dr. Pesto, who is identified by his large nose--shaped like a penguin’s beak--and spectacles. The shape of the nose is taken from the spice-filled masks worn by doctors to ward off disease. Nascone is known for being a busybody.

“The commedia dell’arte was started in the streets of Italy in the 16th century as a reaction to stuffy plays,” said Irini Vallera-Rickerson, OCC’s gallery director. “It later gained popularity with the nobility, and so masked actors of the commedia were invited to the palaces. The mask of each character clearly defined its personality without expressing any emotions.”

The 35 papier-mache masks from Venice’s Carnival are from the collection of Wendy Steen-Olsen.

Carnival, which dates to the 12th century, boasted extravagant balls held in the largest squares. By donning a mask and a costume, nobles and commoners caroused together incognito, making possible amorous affairs between rich and poor.

In 1797 when Napoleon conquered the Venetian Republic, he stopped Carnival for security reasons. It’s hard to know your enemy or your friend if he’s wearing a mask.

Orange Coast College Fine Arts Gallery, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, (714) 432-5039). Mon.-Wed., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Thur., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and 7-8:30 p.m. Free.