Art can be somewhere from simplistic to complicated. To each their own.
The application and medium matters though.
Like, one of my favourite artists is Hieronymus Bosch. The epitome of a "bazillion things going on at once". It's absolutely fascinating as pure "art" where you can just delve into the depths of the bizarre and take the time to soak in and appreciate the insane level of detail and nuance, finding something new everywhere you look. But i wouldn't want a mask painted like that.
A goalie mask is a completely different sort of canvas. It's a small oddly contoured canvas viewed from a distance and in constant motion.
It's right on that proverbial crossover point of "Art" and "Design"...leaning heavily toward the latter practice. Design can be heavily informed by "artistic elements and principles" but in it's purpose, it's a different field. Design is the part that Dave seems to struggle with. Using artistic elements to clearly convey a cohesive point/message/theme/whatever.
People like masks that are "design" heavy, because they
are clear and distinct. The vast majority of Dave masks are minimal to negligible on the actual compositional "design" elements, and when they
are there, they're often awkward or disjointed.
It's the same reason people are so visually repulsed by "Jersey Ads". The clutter spoils and confuses the design intent of the uniform as a whole.
