Skull (Primary Title)
skulls (Former Title)
Robert Lazzarini, American, born 1965 (Artist)
"If there is a general mood or psychology of the objects, I’m interested in subjects or themes related to finality. The notion of memento mori is a genre within still life that I think these objects refer to."—-Robert Lazzarini
Since the mid-1990s, Lazzarini has explored the possibilities of visual distortion in sculpted still lifes and drawings that apply accelerated perspective to individual objects. Although Lazzarini employs photographs, computers, and numerous assistants to help him achieve his illusions, his sculptures are the work of a virtuoso craftsman. Lazzarini’s skulls recall the memento mori or “reminder of death” included in the bottom half of The Ambassadors, a 1533 painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Unlikethat anamorphic skull, these three-dimensional works made of actual bone never resolve into undistorted images as one adopts varying perspectives. They refuse visual mastery and create the unsettling feeling that, while they can see you, you can’t see them. As both stable objects and slippery images, they can be read as emblems of both immortality and mortality at the same time.
Since the mid-1990s, Lazzarini has explored the possibilities of visual distortion in sculpted still lifes and drawings that apply accelerated perspective to individual objects. Although Lazzarini employs photographs, computers, and numerous assistants to help him achieve his illusions, his sculptures are the work of a virtuoso craftsman. Lazzarini’s skulls recall the memento mori or “reminder of death” included in the bottom half of The Ambassadors, a 1533 painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Unlikethat anamorphic skull, these three-dimensional works made of actual bone never resolve into undistorted images as one adopts varying perspectives. They refuse visual mastery and create the unsettling feeling that, while they can see you, you can’t see them. As both stable objects and slippery images, they can be read as emblems of both immortality and mortality at the same time.
Number 6 from an edition of 6
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
© Robert Lazzarini
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