Memento Mori
Memento Mori
Memento Mori: Drawn wheat, gems, gems made of flowers including diamonds, sapphire, rubies, and amethysts (marker, ink, color pencil, gold and/or silver paint, on cut paper) ; turquoise beads and copper wire, 2020.
Drawn, colored, cut, and assembled by hand.
3.5” h x 6” w x 6.75” l ref: crown #9
contact to purchase: beth@local-art-ideas.com or 917-374-7516
tax and shipping added at time of purchase.
from the artist: y'all. this project stole my soul for a second, & i couldn't be happier for it. i've never had a project where i was able to work uninterrupted. as such, i poured myself into this one. i read about, made, meditated, sketched, ate, slept, & breathed crowns for many weeks. i hope you don't mind if i go into some of the things i found. each crown taught me a lesson, always factually at least, sometimes personally.
'memento mori' in art history is an object that acts as a warning of death. often they are transitory things. skulls. flowers. wheat. and although a crown is not physically transient, it's power is certainly fleeting. paranoid royalty is a dime a dozen, from henry vii to ivan the terrible. the crown as a physical symbol of power becomes a monument to its wearer, a symbol of not only what they carry but also what they could lose. it whispers, even as it sits on the wearer's head, 'remember, you will one day die.'
so what does that mean for the wearer of this crown? aside from checking your mortality, i think this crown is a strange little reminder to seize every moment of your life that you can. the history of the crown is one that dates back to ancient times, when grass wreaths were used to denote a champion. in eastern europe, the wheat means the neverending story of life and death. it's celebrated every year with festivals dedicated to the harvest. a circle of life.
the shape of the crown is simple and meant to reflect the diadems of the ancients. the turquoise beads that hang down were influenced by various Indian, greek, and egyptian diadems which all included this little detail. the gems that follow flower patterns are a common theme found in crowns, which often use precious gems to mimic nature. but, we'll get into that more with the next crown tomorrow night.
from the artist: y'all. this project stole my soul for a second, & i couldn't be happier for it. i've never had a project where i was able to work uninterrupted. as such, i poured myself into this one. i read about, made, meditated, sketched, ate, slept, & breathed crowns for many weeks. i hope you don't mind if i go into some of the things i found. each crown taught me a lesson, always factually at least, sometimes personally.
'memento mori' in art history is an object that acts as a warning of death. often they are transitory things. skulls. flowers. wheat. and although a crown is not physically transient, it's power is certainly fleeting. paranoid royalty is a dime a dozen, from henry vii to ivan the terrible. the crown as a physical symbol of power becomes a monument to its wearer, a symbol of not only what they carry but also what they could lose. it whispers, even as it sits on the wearer's head, 'remember, you will one day die.'
.
so what does that mean for the wearer of this crown? aside from checking your mortality, i think this crown is a strange little reminder to seize every moment of your life that you can. the history of the crown is one that dates back to ancient times, when grass wreaths were used to denote a champion. in eastern europe, the wheat means the neverending story of life and death. it's celebrated every year with festivals dedicated to the harvest. a circle of life.
.
the shape of the crown is simple and meant to reflect the diadems of the ancients. the turquoise beads that hang down were influenced by various Indian, greek, and egyptian diadems which all included this little detail. the gems that follow flower patterns are a common theme found in crowns, which often use precious gems to mimic nature. but, we'll get into that more with the next crown tomorrow night.