Memento Mori

While studying art history at university over 20 years ago, two subjects fascinated me the most: the history of techniques, the ability of man to create with his hands, and iconography, the ability to incorporate symbols in his work to express an idea. Since then I have also developed a great fondness for Old Masters works and in particular works on paper, which has been a source of inspiration in my printmaking. The notion of Memento mori in Latin implies that man is not immortal, an idea used by many artists of the 17th-century onwards to reflect on death, the fragility of time and the futility of earthly possessions, a subject which has always been dear to me and many other artists.