Life Cast: Behind the Mask

A Review by Kate Alexander This remarkable art book is a whisper-soft, sensual, loving work of art in itself. The layout is stunning. Flipping the pages to look at famous faces is fine, but reading this beautiful book is a sublime journey. Willa Shalit's passionate relections of her experiences with the faces and bodies she has cast keep the reader spellbound;so, indeed, does the verbal imagery of her models. Shalit also reveals a very personal and provocative portrait of herself. She is a pacifist, a mystic, an environmentalist (this book is printed on recycled paper); a woman who grew up with a celebrity father, the film critic Gene Shalit, and a mother troubled by depression. Out of that life bloomed a life-cast artist whose favorite sense is that of touch. As a child, Shalit, profoundly inspired by Helen Keller, walked around pretending to be blind, using touch for sight. And her mother's illness taught her not to judge by actions but to "see behind the mask." She has cast thousands of faces and bodies. Out of her work evolved The Touch Foundation for the Blind. She wanted to form exhibits that said "Please Touch!" rather than "Look Only." Shalit celebrates the human form and the pleasures of touch. Each luminary, cast in plaster, is beautifully photographed in seductive black and white, showing the impression of the person within, the person behind the mask. Something magical happens with this short process when a face, eyes closed, is encased in plaster gauze. Most subjects relax under the "facial" and center themselves. Sounds like Easter religion? Close. When the impression is removed, Shalit shines a light inside and there are some startling revelations. "Wow, I look like a cherub or something," musician Wynton Marsarlis said. And Stevie Wonder, being blind, exclaimed after feeling the lifecast of his son, "This boy looks just like me!" Arnold Schwarzenegger had never held a flex longer than 90 seconds. His extreme power of concentration allowed him to hold it long enough for the casting process. Dizzy Gillespie puffed his cheeks out, maintaining the position for 10 minutes. He figured he would give a blind person several extra minutes to explore his face. Don't just read this book. Caress it. Indulge your senses and feel the power, harmony, intensity and warmth shared by Shalit and the numerous personalities whose inner beings are gengtly uncovered. And grow with the openness that cannot be hidden behind the mask. Shalit did.