Limited Edition Giclee Print, 2014 (Age 18)
 
Print Size: Three 9" x 9" Circles
 
Framed Size: 19" x 38.5"
 
Passed down from my great-great Uncle Percy, I inherited an heirloom Victorian-style pocket watch, which has become a treasure of mine. I set it among other objects I have collected such as seashells, rocks, and an old trinket box. From this shelf of curious items the idea came to me of juxtaposing the mechanical timepiece with a natural shoreline landscape. While composing the sketches, I realized I had been subconsciously influenced by Salvador Dali’s paintings of melting clocks, which I had seen the summer before at the Dali Museum in Florida. This was later affirmed by viewers commenting on my first work in progress photos, saying it echoed Dali in realism. I felt that a circular format would reflect the roundness of the pocket watch, and I decided to continue the composition onto two other circular panels for my first ever triptych (three paintings making up one) on solid red oak panels, the same surface Michelangelo painted on. I did not realize how challenging it would be to paint around the sides of circles, but in the end it proved rewarding for its anamorphic uniqueness. This painting has a somewhat mystical feel, travelling back into history and reaching forward to the future, transporting the viewer to a ‘steam punk’ world. The title is reminiscent of a Shakespearean proverb 'the world is my oyster', but elicits contemporary metaphors through the commodity of time. While working on this painting the fleetingness of time became a point of contemplation, a reminder of how time is the most valuable currency, something we either lose or master. We only have one life on this earth, then it all ends up in the proverbial box.