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Artist Takes Work At Face Value

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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: November 7, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Sergio Vitorio Flores would probably get along well with Stephen King, Boris Karloff or Edgar Allen Poe.

The 25-year-old artist, who has never worked in the funeral industry, creates what he calls death masks. Technically, a death mask is a cast of a person's face, taken after death. Flores prefers to work off the living - or the plastic.

One of his first masks is titled "Night." It is completely black and features a long ridge from the top of the head to the bridge of the nose. "It just looked like a burial mask," Flores said. "Like something the spirit of night would wear."

Sometimes black, sometimes colorful, but always macabre, Flores' masks - and other ghoulish works - will be on display until Nov. 29 at the Progress Energy Art Gallery on Grand Boulevard, south of Main Street. The exhibit is called "Persona Obscura." An artists' reception is scheduled from 6 to 9 tonight.

Although Flores is also a painter and poet, something clicked the first time he pulled plaster away from a face.

"I just thought it turned out really neat," he said.

Free to the public, the exhibit launched Oct. 3. It is open from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday.

Flores works part time at the gallery and helped gather other goth artists - one known as Deadboy - to display their work, mostly paintings and photographs.

"This is his first exhibit," gallery director Karren Tolliver said of Flores. "We sold more on opening night of this exhibit than we normally do in a month."

The gallery's previous exhibit featured a floral and seascape theme. The next exhibit, "Baubles, Bangles and Bling," focuses on "wearable art."

Flores' work is a little different.

"We've had a far more positive response than I expected," Tolliver said.

"This is a huge step out from what we traditionally do. When the exhibit opened, we had a Hearse out front from Dobie's Funeral Home."

A native of Corpus Christi, Texas, Flores moved to New Port Richey a couple of years ago. He is a part-time student at St. Petersburg College, majoring in art. Asked what brought him east, Flores answered simply: "Luck."

Some of his other masks are titled: "Fire," "Blood Pull," "Ice Maiden" and "Minotaur's Daughter."

He said he eventually would like to sculpt.

Sometimes Flores uses mannequins to create his masks, sometimes flesh-and-blood models.

Jessica Nicoll, 19, a co-worker at the gallery, has lent her face to the cadaverous cause.

"He puts Vaseline all over your face; then he takes out these strips and puts them in water and builds the mask right on you," she said. "I couldn't talk. It's gross and wet and you can't move."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

THE ART OF DEATH

For information about the "Persona Obscura" exhibit at Progress Energy Art Gallery, visit www.nprgallery.com or call (727) 848-6500.

Keyword: Everyday People, to watch an interview with Flores. Keyword: Everyday People, to watch an interview with Flores.

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