"It's All In The Ledger"
In the art world this style of piece is called a Vanitas, although I did not use a human skull. I thought I would give, you the viewer, an explanation of this piece if you are curious about it's meaning.
"I am a strong believer that whatever we do in life is recorded somewhere.....all of our acts of kindness and love or cruelty and thoughtlessness are written down you might say. We will all pay the price at some point...now or later. The objects in this piece all relate to life in some way or another....whether it be the arts, love, music, humanity, the impermanence of things or death itself. To begin...this is a painting, quite obviously.....in itself it represents one of the arts and is impermanent. The cobalt ink bottle and one of the books represents literature, writing and the great thinkers of all time, the Half and Half tobacco can represent many of man's vices, the copper coffee pot, Oriental carpet and blue ceramic pitcher represent the possessions we collect over time and that are left behind when our time on earth is over, the perfume bottle represents love...one of the greatest things we can experience in our lifetime...or, on the other hand, lust often confused with love by some. The butterflies, a short lived life form are an example of our fleeting existence on this planet, so we may want to use our time here wisely. I might add that in the Ancient Hawaiian culture (which I became very familiar with during my 15 years in Hawaii) that the butterfly is representative of the soul, that part of us that is our spiritual essence and will not die. Beneath the deer skull, and upon closer examination, you will see the ledger....call it what you may....The Stairway to Heaven, God's Roll Call, The Book of Life or The Lamb's Record.......here is where everything is recorded, all of our acts of kindness and love or cruelty and thoughtlessness and we will be judged accordingly. The background is an abstract impression of a global map representing all humanity, the brotherhood of man and our involvement therein. It also reflects that no man is unknown to Him that keeps this record. The slim green book is a music book, yet another one of the arts represented here. The two wooden blocks were once part of a larger piece of furniture from times past...that bureau has long since fallen into decay as these wooden blocks will, also...all things mortal will return to dust at some point in time. The deer skull is meant to represent death and the finality of our mortal being......ashes to ashes, dust to dust.*
This is a personal viewpoint, although shared by many, and not intended or designed to offend or coerce anyone into this way of thinking.....I have admiration and respect for all spiritual belief systems that are positive and good and cause no harm to anyone or anything, and also for those that follow them. This was just something I thought of and wanted to express.
From an artistic standpoint I don't usually produce such a highly rendered piece. I was asked to have a piece of my work to be displayed on the poster for The Midwest Gathering of the Artists for 2012 and I wanted something that would photograph well and be somewhat different. The setup just seemed to lend itself to being more rendered."
*"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust", a phrase from the Anglican burial service, used sometimes to denote total finality. It is based on scriptural texts such as "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19), and "I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee" (Ezekiel 28:18).
