The uncanny valley is the idea that we’re creeped out by anything that looks sort of human, but still not entirely human. This could apply to dolls, wax figures, clowns, and definitely these hyperrealistic masks by Colorado artist Landon Meier.
Landon Meier of Hyperflesh makes some of the most unsettling masks around. They’re not terrifying monsters, like Burbank’s Immortal Masks, but instead take on the form of real people, including celebrities, TV characters, babies (scary), and politicians (very scary). In a recent video profile via Great Big Story’s Human Condition series, Meier explains that he had a variety of odd jobs, including loan officer and pizza delivery driver, before starting his mask-making operation.
“I’ve always been interested in doing something that’s really surreal and nightmarish, so it was more or less an experiment that took off,” he said.
It takes him anywhere from several days to a year to create the 3D-printed sculptures for the mold, then about a week to go from mold to mask. It’s a detailed process that involves meticulously adding eyebrows and hair, as well as painting features. He’s got about 25 different faces, including several babies, Breaking Bad‘s Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Stephen Colbert, Mike Tyson, and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage). His Tyrion mask—complete with Battle of Blackwater Bay scars—is so realistic, we’re certain Game of Thrones face collector extraordinaire Arya Stark would be seething with envy. Given the amount of time each mask requires, they sell for anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars a piece.
Meier told Narrative.ly that social media launched his career. After artist Jillian Mayer wore one of his baby masks in her 2011 video, “I Am Your Grandma,” he started racking up views on another video in which a couple and their child stroll around Denver in equally disturbing baby masks.
“I was on unemployment for two years, and right at the end very tail end of it, overnight, ten people a day were emailing,” he told the outlet.
Which mask do you want in your Hall of Faces? Let us know in the comments below.
Images: Landon Meier/Facebook
