Masks Drawn by Hand

Mari Lemet, an Estonian artist who moves between Tallinn and Milan, draws her masks with a 3D pen. It is digital handicraft: filament stacked line over line. Dragonfly-wing lace comes to cover a face, a flock of swallows, Estonia's national bird, circles the eyes, traditional embroidery patterns stiffen into a red hood. A white flower mask dedicated to Ariana Grande's new song "Petal." A spiderweb butterfly mask addressed to Spider-Man. Sculpture built by hand, not machine.

She has spent her career exploring the beauty of nature somewhere between fashion, technology and sculpture, and last year she led the planning of Eden.exe, an art performance that dissects perfectionism. "Perfection is an illusion made by humans. Nature comes closest to it precisely because of its honest flaws," runs her credo. Which is why these masks keep every trace of a trembling hand instead of the smooth output of a machine.

She holds a technological tool, the 3D pen, yet what remains in the end is the mark of the hand. The filament fails to draw a perfect straight line, the curves of the lace waver slightly, and that imperfection breathes on the face. Just as nature does, the flaw completes the beauty. Are you closer to perfection or to flaw?