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When I was fourteen years old and a freshman
in high school, I
decided one gray November afternoon to wander down to the local
costume shop with a friend. I had always had an interest in
monsters, special effects and sculpture, so it was a requirement
that I always check out the very latest in Halloween
merchandise---especially masks. I'd always been a fan of any
 number
of various mask companies and their offerings over the years, many
of them extremely imaginative and well done. But what I saw at that
little Philadelphia costume shop in the winter of 1981 would
influence my artistic and design sense more than any other single
experience I can recall. Hanging from the shop's pegboard, among the
typical ghouls, devils, and monsters, was a large mask of a classic
50's alien with purple-blue eyes and jet black skin. Perhaps it
would have blended in a bit more with the other faces on that wall
if not for one detail---the eyes were wet. They reflected the shop's
fluorescent light with a glassy, genuine life---something I had
never before seen in a latex mask. It was also enormously effective
that the eyes were set into this black skinned face, making them
stand out all the more. I asked the clerk at the counter to get the
mask down for me, that I might inspect it more closely. Hanging from
the back of the mask was a tag that had the name of the company that
had produced it: Distortions Unlimited.
 I
must have stood there for an hour, my friend becoming restless and
starting to wonder, perhaps, what exactly was so transfixing about
this piece of rubber. There is probably no way I could have
explained it then, and it is even difficult now---I mean, it's
simply a latex mask, right? Wrong. It was not only something that
influenced a single, young artist, but it upped the ante for the
entire Halloween mask market, and this mask---along with the rest of
Distortion's lineup between the years of 1978 and 1983-spawned
countless imitators. As well, in my opinion, they were responsible
for a major movement towards treating masks as true art-pretty
amazing for something that had previously been thought of as a
disposable novelty. The main thrust of Distortion's early work was
originality and design, creating a fresh and often unexpected
glimpse into a world overflowing with aliens and strange creatures.
In a market that was saturated with standard gothic monsters and
licensed movie characters, these masks represented an entirely new
and uncanny vision.
 Of
course now, I have spent over twenty years in the mask and special
effects industries; I learned many years ago that five-minute-epoxy
glue was responsible for the stunning effect of those moist looking
eyes on that mask all those years ago; and I have sculpted and
designed more monsters, aliens, and characters than I can count. I
have also become friends with the man behind all those incredible
and bizarre faces, Ed Edmunds. When I got the opportunity to
re-imagine these seminal characters for Ed and Distortions
Unlimited, I knew that it would be an undertaking of true passion,
and one that somehow seemed at once amazing and so obvious.
These masks are something that is the
culmination of many years of fascination and dedication. My most
fervent hope is, of course, that these new sculptures will motivate
someone, somewhere, to pursue the vast terrain of their own
imaginations, continuing the chain of inspiration that is the
lifeblood of true art-whether it be a novel, a film ...or a latex
monster
mask.
Many years ago, when I first worked for Ed,
he told me one day, "Man Jordu, I wish I could design like you", a
statement that struck me as ironic---all I ever wanted was to be
able to design like Ed.
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