Text with the word 'INFLUENCES' in bold black font on a white background.

the vanitas project / touchstones and inspirations                   

Painting of a human skull with a cigarette in its mouth, set against a dark background.
Title of an artwork: Vincent van Gogh, Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette, 1886.

“We always knew that there was something peculiar about humanity, something deep down that characterized us and set us apart from the other animals.”

-Ernest Becker

A humanoid skeleton with a deteriorated skull, wearing a jacket and a scarf, leaning against a textured wall with exposed nails and cracked paint, illuminated by blue lighting.
A transparent plastic cup filled with a light yellow beverage and ice, with a red straw inside.
An abstract, colorful illustration of a nude woman with short hair, shown in a dynamic pose, with expressive brushstrokes and lines.
Text graphic with the title 'Egon Schiele, Fighter, 1913' on a plain background.

“This is the paradox: we are out of nature and hopelessly in it; we are dual, up in the stars and yet housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping body that once belonged to a fish and still carries the gill-marks to prove it.”

-Ernest Becker

A painting of a person with a distressed expression on a bridge at sunset, in a style reminiscent of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'.
Text displaying 'Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893'
A decayed, spooky skeleton with a broken, rusted skull, wearing a tattered yellow shirt, against a textured, blue background.
The image appears to be a black background with the word 'NO' written in large, bold white letters.
A painting of a woman with a screaming face, sitting on a yellow chair with curved armrests, against a dark background with vertical streaks.
Text showing Francis Bacon's study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953.

“Our insides are full of nightmarish memories of impossible battles, terrifying anxieties of blood, pain, aloneness, darkness; mixed with limitless desires, sensations of unspeakable beauty, majesty, awe, mystery; and fantasies and hallucinations of mixtures between the two, the impossible attempt to compromise between bodies and symbols.”

-Ernest Becker

A person with a damaged and decayed face mask standing against a textured wall with cracks. The face looks like a mask or sculpture, with missing parts and a skeletal appearance.
The image contains a single white square with the text 'What is in this image? Respond in American English.' written inside.
A detailed historical illustration depicting a large crowd of people, with a prominent skeletal figure on a flying creature wielding a spear, above a gathering in a city street with buildings and smoke.
Black background with the text "James Ensor, Death Chasing the Flock of Mortals, 1896" in white.
An abstract drawing of a woman with short dark hair, one arm raised with her hand on her head, showing her back and face in a stylized manner.
Text reading 'Egon Schiele, Self-Portrait with Arm Twisted above Head, 1910'

“Humans are not just blind globs of idling protoplasm, but creatures with names who live in a world of symbols and dreams and not merely matter.”

-Ernest Becker

A decayed, weathered sculpture of a woman with short hair, wearing a draped dress, positioned against a textured wall.
A young woman with curly hair wearing a black jacket, smiling and holding a phone
Painting of two women in long, flowing dresses, one with a headscarf, engaging in a conversation near a doorway.
A slide or document displaying text about El Greco's painting, The Visitation, created in 1609-13.

“Humans are literally split in two: we have an awareness of our own splendid uniqueness in that we stick out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet we go back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.”

-Ernest Becker

An eerie, dusty scene with a child mannequin dressed in old, tattered clothing inside a wooden cabinet with multiple shelves containing skeletons and bones.
An ice cream cone with a swirl of vanilla ice cream topped with a cherry
A portrait of a man with glasses and a beard, sitting in a chair, wearing a purple shirt and black hat, with abstract skull and bones artwork behind him.
Title text that reads: "Francis Bacon, Figure with Meat, 1954"
Historical exhibit featuring statues of people and historical artifacts displayed on both sides of a tunnel or corridor, with a pathway leading through the center.
Text describing a work of art by Eugen Poppel titled 'Catacombs of the Capuchins' in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, from 1927.

“Everything that humanity does in its symbolic world is an attempt to deny and overcome our grotesque fate.”

-Ernest Becker

A mummified baby doll wrapped in cloth lying in a wooden box with a lid, labeled as an artifact from 1871.
Text overlay reading 'Peter Hujar, Palermo Catacombs #4, 1963'
Book cover titled "Vantast" by Matthew Rolston, featuring an art piece of a human skull with a large, weathered orange-colored top, wearing a shirt, tie, and blazer against a textured blue background.
Text from a book cover of Mathhew Rolston, Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits, limited edition monograph.