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Joost received a Bachelor of Art in Anthropology and Geology from the University of South Florida and a Master of Anthropology from Florida State University. He taught anthropology at the HCC Dale Mabry Campus for 35 years. In 2012, Gallery 3@HCC exhibited a retrospective of Joost’s photographic works. His training as an anthropologist has helped him to look beyond the ordinary to capture mundane, everyday experiences and make them evident. Joost retired from HCC in 2013.Label Type
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Eric Joost (b. 1950)
Buy a Political Mask and You Can be Two-Faced Too, 1996
gelatin print photograph
7.75 x 12 in.
Gift of the artist, 2013.2.1
Eric Joost taught at HCC for 35 years, and his background in anthropology helped him look beyond everyday mundane experiences and give them a new purpose. Joost’s photograph emphasizes the popular conception of “two-faced politicians” by focusing on six animated political masks that seem to peer outside of a weathered door. In the left window, masks referring to Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, and Hillary Clinton are grouped together-–all political figures famously embroiled in scandals. On the right, we see masks referring to figures such as Abraham Lincoln, popularly nicknamed “Honest Abe” during his career as a lawyer. The two sides of the door also create a division between smiling and frowning faces; as an anthropologist, this grouping may have interested Joost for the subtle reference to Greek tragedy and comedy masks or as an ethnographic image of everyday American life.
This work of art is a part of the HCC Permanent Art Collection. The HCC Art Galleries, through their Campus Loan Outreach Program, seek to share original art by collecting a diversity of works for the education and enjoyment of the HCC Community.