I had a lot of Christmas candies this year. It just happened. Everything happened so fast and the next thing I knew, they were all in my tummy. To commemorate this very sweet and kinda scary feast, I present to you Damien Poulain‘s “Masks and Sweets”.

A collaboration with Dutch candy company Jamin, Damien Poulain set out to create a new kind of candy only to realise that this initial concept of his was impossible (the company only distributes candy). Thus he decided to explore the visual conventions of sweets.

A series of five masks were made for the exhibition titled Graphic Detour curated by Erik Kessels where different artists/ designers are invited to present past and recent works as well as teaming with a local company, from the region of the different museums in Europe. Exploring the similar themes as James Ostrer, Poulain was inspired by the innate fascination we have with sweets and also ceremonial masks. The masks are said to have transported the shamans/ wearers into a state of trance and similarly, Poulain wants to transport us – the new tribe into a realm of fantasy with a little taste of fear and horror at the tip of our tongue.

Damien Poulain is a graphic designer and illustrator working across a wide range of fields, with a specific focus on art, fashion and music.

Image Source: damienpoulain.com/masks-sweets