VANITAS  II, 2008

As in Vanitas I, the Vanitas II collection continues themes concerning evolution, deep time, silence, the unknowable, through links between the science of evolution and the art historical still life genre Vanitas. As in all Vanitas paintings, time and the ephemeral are central themes.

See Vanitas I collection.

Vanitas is a form of still life painting that developed in northern Europe in the late sixteenth century. Its’ central theme focuses on the transience and frailty of life. With this in mind commonly portrayed symbols included mirrors, clocks, feathers, rotten fruit, flowers and skulls. In Vanitas II the burning candle seen here, is a recurrent theme, used repeatedly to form long threads throughout the collection to unite it and create a cyclical, repeated orientation.