A story for MORTALIS

At the end of 2012 heading into 2013, I began to work on a series of paintings on paper that became: 'MORTALIS'.

MORTALIS, a latin word meaning, 'Mortal', is a collection of Paintings meant to search ourselves and reflect on our mortality and address our fear of whats next. Mortality has always been a thing that haunts me, like so many I imagine, however to me it is a very powerful fear, the fear of death. In 2006 an accident that would lead to my flatlining in the back of an ambulance left me with a memory of the other side of the realm of consciousness. After waking and returning to this plain, it always stuck with me - or a part of me is forever stuck there until I once again inevitably return. The memory is haunting. The experience made me question myself and my faith in what my beliefs actually even are, and ultimately began my quest to understand myself and my placement in the universe and the need to have a "good life".

In the works, we can see distorted figures yelling out into the chasm of space and time, praying for immortality and seeking truth from others. Often times these figures seem as if they are in the moment for the first time discovering that their lives are finite.

It is a deep and often times dark subject, however, the intent of the paintings i wanted the figures to playfully entertain and distract from the gravity of the dialogue.

These works were also partly created to be exhibited at an old acquaintance's hair salon. Honestly, one of the best spaces I exhibited my work in Vegas. The collection, now nearly sold entirely to collectors around the world, remains one of the bodies of my work I return to study when I am constructing new ideas and new concepts.

MORTALIS will forever be the collection that began my current progression of painting.

~m

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