Rise of the Rings

Oil on canvas.

24x36"

I had a near death experience in 2022, and so all of my creations draw from the theme of “momento mori” and remembering your own mortality. One example of this is the roaches in “Rise of the Rings” , a self portrait that speaks of my cockroach-like nature to keep living even through the most suffocating of experiences, literally. One of the rings in that painting is also made of my tooth which I welded out of metal, it takes inspiration from Victorian mourning jewelry. There are 2 dark colored sapphires, one to represent the ocean right as the sun sets, and the other to represent the last embers of a fire before it burns out, creating a timeless heirloom which I intend to be given to my closest loved one when I die.