Sol Dorado - Art Gallery
Blvd.. Mijares No: 33, Col. Centro, C.P. 23400, San José del Cabo, B.C.S. Tel: (624)14-219-50
email: rosadu@prodigy.net.mx web_page: www.soldoradogaleria.com

Leather masks - Dominique Haas

Dominique Haas has dedicated nearly 20 years to the revival of a forgotten art. He began sculpting leather and selling his work in 1987 while living in the Dominican Republic. He left home in the mid-1980's, departing Pompey in the industrial northeast of France to pursue a simpler, sunnier life in the Caribbean. Before coming to Mexico in 1993, he lived for a time in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba. Attracted to the renowned beauty of the Pacific coast, he initially set up shop in Acapulco.
During his 11 year residence in this country, he has traveled extensively, most often to cattle country in the central highlands to buy the fine quality leather needed for his work. He eventually moved inland to Aguascalientes where he learned much about Mexico and deepened his knowledge of tanning leather. His technique is neither Caribbean nor Mexican but a craft practiced in ancient Rome. Using animal hides treated in a special way, artisans were able to make armor strong enough to resist swords and arrows. True to tradition, Dominique too specially prepares the leather and later shapes each mask from one seamless piece. He works alone in a small rustic studio attached to his home. Some of his more elaborate sculptures require weeks or even months to complete. Among them are custom-made masks commissioned by people requesting leather casts of their own faces. Others integrate sections of tree trunks, fallen branches or roots. Dominique wraps the wood, following the elegant lines that occur naturally, and adds clusters of leather faces to create a surprising harmony of materials.
His work has been exhibited at the Nader Galleries and in the gallery of painter Candido Bido in the Dominican Republic. He has also shown pieces in small galleries in the U.S. and Canada. Collectors from countries as distant as South Africa, Iceland, and Pakistan have bought directly from the artist. His work is sold in exclusive shops on the Riviera Maya in Quintana Roo as well as in stores along Mexico's Pacific coast. Currently, Dominique lives with his family near the beach in Progreso, Yucatan.