VANITAS

There is a whole set of these 18th c French prints of coiffures and adornments in my "Art Scans & Downloads" folder, but I neglected to make note of where they came from. Shame on me. Yet, isn't that a nice thing about altered art? We find vintage images, manipulate them, transform them, make them our own. Who can gainsay us? Well, perhaps many. I always draw the line at using something that clearly is someone else's art--unless they're 200 years dead--much as I wish I could lend its magic to my work.  Itkupilli and Lisa Vollrath (to name a couple of my faves)  release a whole lot of scrumptious stuff for appropriation/alteration, as do many other online altered art divas, for which we are all grateful (perhaps someday I'll give that a try myself?)  So forgive me if I often neglect to give credit for the images I use, for, in truth, I am a collector of images, printed as well as digital, from many years back, and obviously I cannot keep track of it all!

"Vanitas", pictures that remind of inescapable death and also manage to scold some segment of the population for  indulging in woefully superficial and temporal pursuits--trendy fashion, hairdos, musicians, etc., are a time-honored, but often neglected, genre in art. Maybe started by peevish people who didn't jump on the bandwagon in time? Anyway, these particular French pictures did not start out as Vanitas, but let's face it--any woman who would let someone turn her hair into a posh resort for at least half a dozen gnomes, complete with awnings and flowers, deserves to go down in flaming derision. What were they thinking?? Of course, it's also possible that the original pictures are satires, spoofing the trend for over-the-top hairdos but not, let us hope, depicting actual 'dos.

So I decided to nestle some awfully sweet little skulls in their wiggy nests and create some absurdist art of my own. Why ever not? My mother has often said a quote, which is both pointed and poignant:

"What you are, I once was. What I am, you will become." 

A memento mori if ever there was one. Good night, may we all wake up tomorrow.

August 22, 2010: The Mirror That Flattereth Not

I wrote a lengthy post to accompany this image, but after giving it some thought, I decided it was hopelessly cynical and deleted it. Just consider tonight's piece as another simple Memento Mori.

Collage for Tuesday, Aug. 17: Folly of Youth

Thinking up titles for artwork can be fun, or a pain in the butt. It's a process I usually enjoy, until I come up against a stumper. Especially since I'm often choosing a title in the wee hours when all I want to do is finish and go to bed. I find I am not satisfied with the title for this piece. OK, it may be folly for a young woman to run around half naked with a snake around her neck--didn't she hear what happened to Cleopatra? But "Folly of Youth" seems kind of a cliche. I can still remember myself that feeling of immortality that young people often exhibit (I was a particularly foolish youth) simply because they are so far away from death, time-wise. This work is another memento mori, but I already used that phrase for a title. So I guess I'll let the current title stand. Though I'll admit, looking at her youthful beauty, that there is probably a good bit of Envious Age going on too.

The painting is Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo.

Back Online: 3SIXTY5 for August 9, 2010: MEMENTO MORI

This piece started out to be a Halloween design for Theme Thursday's challenge from last week. Then I had my little melt-down, resulting in no new art for 5 or 6 days. So I guess tonight's work has a potent message for me--Stop Wasting Tme!!! It's funny, if I look at this piece with my eyes kind of squinty, I see a skull with a little Santa Claus hat on. That's not so inappropriate for (lapsed) Catholic--in RC iconology of my era, it was all about suffering and death. The Babe in the manger, celebrated by Santa and his bag of gifts for all the world, in fact carried a destiny as dire as any. One of the most instructive books I've ever read about this theme--the god-man who sacrifices himself so that his people may survive--is Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces, which places the Christ story in the continuum of savior stories from way, way back. Informative, and liberating to those of us who have felt burdened by the weight of faith.

Well, I've wandered pretty far from my original purpose of making a simple Halloween design. Thus my Memento Mori (which means, in Latin, "Remember you will Die") is an appropriate reminder for me at this point in my journey. In spite of all our plans, dreams, and investments, life is transitory. But, this is no reason for despair. To paraphrase Dumbledore: to a right-thinking mind, death is but the next great adventure. Nevertheless, it's a scary thought to contemplate one's lone journey among the remote stars. Or not? I admit I am in no hurry to find out.