painting, oil, calm, transparent, figurative, human, mementomori, death, dream, surreal
Description:
The inspiration for the series came from an intimate moment in my life, when I was watching my boyfriend sleep. It reminded me eerily of Adrian Mantegna's Lamentations of the Dead Christ. The sight of a sleeping person might remind the outside looker to a dead person. We can find a number of everyday expressions as evidence for this. The phrases "rest in peace", "he died a beautiful death, he died in his sleep", "he lies as peacefully as if he were asleep" refer to a peaceful, painless death. But I depict people who are not just sleeping, but dreaming. In the painting the transparent figures refer to our amazing ability to transcend the boundaries of our own reality and face an unknown world day by day. The complexity of reality can give us the hope and courage to face and accept the unchangeable fact affecting all people equally, that one day we will cease to exist, or will we? Following my predecessors, in my new project I present a Memento Mori in a gentile way. One that aims to give hope and encouragement, beyond reminding us of death, by pointing out the complexity of reality, to be able to cope with our awareness of death and use it to our advantage.
Reality, Frédi
Júlia SzilágyiYear: 2025
Size: 90 x 140 cm
Technique: oil on canvas
Price: n.a.