'Face Off' recap: 'Living Art'

Laura and her winning Cubism design.
BY LARISSA MRYKALO

A visit from an iconic Mistress of the Dark and some living, breathing works of art, made this episode of “Face Off” very fun and colorful. Two challenges were presented to the remaining nine talented artists so let’s pop on into this recap so I can express how it went.

Foundation Challenge
Candelabras met the artists in the lab, but was Liberace behind them? Nope. It was Elvira! As a lead-in to the new Syfy series in which she’s featured, “Fangasm,” Elvira came by to judge this challenge. Mckenzie revealed that they must “create your own Mistress of the Dark worthy of Elvira’s legacy.”

Elvira advised them to make their designs hip, young and edgy. They got some help from hairstylists and went to work on this two-hour challenge that would give the winner not only immunity, but also an awesome, fully-stocked Krylon make-up kit.

From what was shown, all of the makeups were pretty damn cool but Elvira chose Tate’s “Bride of Frankenstein Meets Sexy Nurse” and Roy’s “Cousin Elmira” as her favorites. She chose Roy as the winner because of the combo of sexy, spooky and funny. This is the second week in a row that Roy gained immunity from elimination. Not that he had anything to worry about.

Spotlight Challenge
The Pacific Design Center served as the backdrop for McKenzie and Neville to reveal this week’s Spotlight Challenge. The artists were to create a character that represents and could reside in an iconic art movement.

Their choices were: Cubism (Laura, Miranda); Surrealism (Tate, Scott); Pop Art (Laney); Expressionism (Eddie, Roy); and, Constructivism (Alana, Frank). Neville advised them to be faithful to the art’s style. The artists then entered the Design Phase.

Laney’s design involved a female “living piece of social media” and Eddie took inspiration from Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and made his design as a "Stressful Night."

Alana chose Constructivism because she thought it had to do with architectural construction. I think? Well, she was wrong, and regretted her decision. Thankfully, Mr. Westmore’s walk-through guided her in the right direction and she felt better about the challenge.

Lab Work
The first day’s six hours showed us a lot of cool artistic directions, including Miranda’s sorrowful female musician who lives through her music. She ultimately hates her design which proves that her confidence level isn’t increasing despite her amazing talent.

Scott’s design was inspired by his demon-ridden father who had a drinking problem and a temper. Roy’s design was that of a tightly-wound person whose head explodes. I think he based this on me after he and I met. Or maybe not?

Laura’s design was just super intricate and had many sharp surfaces. She is quoted as saying, “You can’t think of this as a makeup, you have to think of it as a work of art.” Her philosophy on this challenge paid off for her.

And then there’s Tate. Poor, hunky, talented Tate smashed the hell out of his fingers while working on his massive mold. He needed 13 stitches but thanks to the help of his friends, he was able to come back from the doctor and finish up his massive and surreal castle design.

The final day seemed extra stressful and even resulted in some tears from Alana. Miranda wasn’t too thrilled either and was not pleased with herself. Dammit, girl! You're crazy talented!

Reveal
Framed in gold, the designs all looked really amazing. The judges took their closer looks and chose their top and bottom designs. Despite her tears and self-doubt, Alana joined immune Roy and Frank in the safe zone.

The judges picked Miranda, Laura, and Laney as their top looks. Laney’s Pop Art cartoonish social media rep met the challenge perfectly. Miranda’s cool sculpt that was soft and beautiful, was an excellent representation of Cubism. However, I can’t remember the judges ever being this blown away by a design and that honor goes to Laura. The terms “mind-blowing” and “stunning” were thrown out and needless to say, Laura won this challenge.

Bottom looks included: Tate’s really “cool costume” that just didn’t stack up and meet the Surrealism style’s definition; Eddie’s monochromatic, burn victim/monstrous-looking Expressionism design; and Scott’s “surreal” personal piece that didn’t work on an overall level and was “unattractive.”

Sadly for Scott, his struggle to pull his ideas together resulted in him being eliminated. At age 52, Scott isn’t worried about his career in the biz and will go back to his business and continue his work.

Next week looks out of this world! Watch “Cosmic Circus” next Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.