FINE ART
Human Facial Expression
in a Mask
Expression Woro Mastuti
Masks not only cover the face, but also reveal a new personality. The mask tradition cannot be separated
The characters in Peking (Beijing) opera
from the makeup tradition. Makeup or
have their own meaning in their makeup.
painting on the face makes a person’s
The makeup character in Peking opera
personality different from the original.
has 4 kinds of characters, namely sheng,
In the tradition of wayang wong or
dan, jing, chou. The four types of makeup
wayang orang from Java, the colors,
characters are divided into two parts,
lines, and decorations on the wayang
namely mocai (applying powder and
wong’s makeup show the character’s
coloring the face naturally) and goulian
character.
(drawing and painting faces). Likewise, with the tradition of make-up and masks of the archipelago.
Each region in Indonesia has its own mask vocabulary: tapuk (Old Javanese), tapel (Bali, Lombok), kedok (Javanese-Sundanese), hudoq (Dayak), toping (Batak Simalungun), gundala-gundala (Karo). In its development, the term mask has expanded its meaning. This is reflected in the art of ondel-ondel (Batavian), ogoh-ogoh (Balinese), barong landung (Balinese), Sisingaan (Sundanese), burak or buroq (Cirebon) which not only covers the face, but also covers the whole body of the person who wears it.
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78 INDONESIANA VOL. 12, 2021
