Vanitas III: Danse Macabre, Saskia Ozols. Oil on Panel, 9″ x 12″ 2024
This group of Vanitas paintings explore the relationship between the material and the spiritual through the use of symbolic objects. Traditionally this genre was used in history for meditation on mortality, materiality, and meaning.
In these works, I have contrasted antique and contemporary objects for the same end: to provide opportunity for contemplation on cycles of life alongside questions of mortality, ethics, and balance between intellectual or material pursuits.
This painting offers reflection on symbols of life and spirit (the found feathers) and symbols of power and pain. The composition echoes a movement between the two, offering questions on relationships and symbolism.
