Skulls vs Skin

Skulls are representative of death and it is true. I, like many others have a fascination for death and many things that revolve around it , but then there are countless professions that do :from pathologists to newsreaders.

I think I like skulls because they are primarily representative of the ' BARE BONES'.

  They are the physical essence of something.They are the bottom line of our features and our facial representation to the world.My little collection of ceramic , wax, resin, cement . plastic, metal etc. skulls are just ersatz artistic expressions of this and this is why I like them.I do however sometimes have to explain to people that they have not entered into the last room they are going to see on this planet nor am I a Satanist demon worshipper .The fact that I live 50 metres from a cemetery probably doesn't help my case .

 On the opposite extreme we have the skin.I immediately thought of the evangelist Tammy Fay Baker and all the garish make-up she put on her skin.Those plastic surgery disaster women with those freaky lips , permanently surprised expressions and lips that look like a pack of wasps had stung them.The video clip by Soundgarden ''Black Hole Sun"  captures this well .

   Skin can be beautiful.Some people have beautiful skin but is only the covering , it gets sunburnt , ages ,gets scars and is literally a reminder everyday of our mortality and how fragile we are.Often it is not the sketch of the film star that gets all the comments it is of the beautiful wrinkled face of an elder from another culture that gets the praise.And rightly so.

Those contoured lines on the face like rings of an ancient tree revealing the joy, the hope ,the hardship of a person's  life.These are the things that true artists can reveal.It is one of the reasons I love this site. I sometimes come across a photograph or a portrait sketch that reveal the transient nature of our humanity.

 I will still stick with my skulls and collecting them.I like their raw beauty and their symbolic permanence.Maybe they are my calcified security blanket in the world, that sometimes, is just a little too skin deep.