French makeup artist Héloïse Ravon painted black dots across a face. Large and small black dots repeat over skin painted stark white. The face brings someone to mind. The dots that Yayoi Kusama, the artist who passed away this August, painted all her life seem to have landed on a human face.
Ravon's faces usually become something else. Rows of metal studs run from forehead to chin, with only the eyes showing through. On another face, pearls cover the cheeks and nose. Studs, pearls, and now black dots.
The material changes, but the work stays the same. How many dots, and where, decides whether a face remains or vanishes. Kusama called erasing herself with dots "self-obliteration" and named the polka dot "a way to infinity." Between the dots covering Ravon's face, the hand that once covered canvases, pumpkins, and entire rooms passes through for a moment.
Makeup is often about revealing a face, but in Ravon's work it becomes about covering one. As each dot lands on the skin, the face disappears bit by bit and reappears as something new. Just as Kusama erased her own existence with polka dots, Ravon turns a face into part of the infinite with dots. What do you see in this face?
Ravon's faces usually become something else. Rows of metal studs run from forehead to chin, with only the eyes showing through. On another face, pearls cover the cheeks and nose. Studs, pearls, and now black dots.
The material changes, but the work stays the same. How many dots, and where, decides whether a face remains or vanishes. Kusama called erasing herself with dots "self-obliteration" and named the polka dot "a way to infinity." Between the dots covering Ravon's face, the hand that once covered canvases, pumpkins, and entire rooms passes through for a moment.
Makeup is often about revealing a face, but in Ravon's work it becomes about covering one. As each dot lands on the skin, the face disappears bit by bit and reappears as something new. Just as Kusama erased her own existence with polka dots, Ravon turns a face into part of the infinite with dots. What do you see in this face?
FAQ
Who is Eloïse Labone?
Eloïse Labone is a French makeup artist who transforms faces into canvases using metal studs, pearls, and dots for avant-garde makeup work. She obscures and reshapes the face into entirely new forms through her practice.
What is Yayoi Kusama's self-obliteration?
Self-obliteration refers to Yayoi Kusama's practice of erasing herself through dots. She described her polka dots as a path to infinity, absorbing her own existence into canvas, sculpture, and space through this philosophical approach.
What characterizes Labone's dot makeup?
Labone's dot makeup features a white-painted face covered with repeated black dots of varying sizes. Depending on the number and placement of dots, the face either emerges or disappears, evoking Yayoi Kusama's iconic polka-dot work.
