In this series, I sought to capture something essential of myself on the canvas. Few subjects bring my sense of life and vitality into sharper focus than my own mortality. The works are not intended to be morbid, but rather to inspire a heightened awareness of life’s brevity and the importance of living as fully as possible.
I expressed these ideas through light, bright hues. The painting and collage contained within the skull forms are playful and dreamlike, combining expressive mark-making, stencilled shapes, fragments of automatic writing, and small, finely rendered pencil drawings. I have long been drawn to the contrast between loose, intuitive gestures and tightly controlled detail, and this tension became central to the series.
The skull motif itself references the visual language of old woodcut prints and anatomical diagrams.
Memento Mori (Part 1) (Acrylic paint, pencil and collage on canvas, 24" x 36")
Memento Mori (Part 2) (Acrylic paint, pencil and collage on canvas, 24" x 36")
Memento Mori (Part 3) (Acrylic paint, pencil and collage on canvas, 24" x 36")
Memento Mori (Part 1) (Close-up)
