The "backwards movie about the amnesia guy" first opened in theaters 15 years ago this week
Memento Mori Tattoo: Memento Mori tattoos are a powerful and symbolic form of body art that carry deep meaning and serve as reminders of the
Memento Mori Philosophy and History ✔ Memento Mori Art in Medieval and Victorian Europe and the Americas ✔ Memento Mori Art and Artists ✔
Memento mori art to help inspire you to start living your life.
Artist Philippe de Champaigne, Still-Life with a Skull, c. 1671 vanitas painting oil on panel. Image via Public domain via Wikipedia Artists have captured death's looming specter throughout history - Creating the skulls, skeletons and macabre symbols that have become Memento Mori or when translated
Memento mori art to help inspire you to start living your life.
Memento Mori is a Latin term that translates to “remember that you will die,” and has been illustrated in numerous works of art. While the expression may sound somber, the point of Memento Mori is to serve as a reminder of our mortality so as to make best use of the time we have now. […]
SIENA, Italy – "The Lake" by Iranian photographer Masoud Mirzaei is the overall winner of the 2021 Creative Photo Awards, the international contest of creative and artistic photography of Siena Awards, an international visual arts festival. The photo was shot at Lake Urmia, the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth, located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan. It was selected among tens of thousands of images submitted by photographers from 137 countries. The Creative Photo Awards competition includes 17 categories for contemporary photographers, whose innovative approaches to photography challenge the viewer's expectations and offer surprise and delight at every turn. The winning images for each category will be showcased at the exhibition "I Wonder If You Can" during the Siena Awards Festival, from October 23rd to December 5th.
How much do you know about memento mori art?
Memento Mori Coin The rehearsal and reminder of death is a core Stoic practice. By rehearsing and remembering our mortality, we can overcome it, we can live with a sense of urgency and meaning, and as we reflect, death puts into perspective what is and is not important in life. In short, we remember death so that we may live. In the eyes of the Stoics, the meditation of death was not a morbid or depressing act, it actually leads to a far more fruitful and enjoyable life. Knowing our time is limited means we no longer waste it. Knowing death can arrive at any moment, we live with a sense of urgency and vigour. Compared to death, suddenly our grudges, fears and ambitions seem infantile. With this coin, I wanted it to evoke a strong and meaningful reaction to those who hold and look upon it, and a coin which told a story on which we can meditate and reflect upon. My hope is that it is both a piece of art and full of practical meaning. FRONT OF COIN The front of the coin features the well known maxim Memento Mori: “Remember you must die” . The main imagery is of Marcus Aurelius’s and a skull separated by a sword hanging by a thread. Marcus’s face is calm, stern and unperturbed. This state of mind is something we all hope to achieve in life. The skull has a hallow almost taunting smile. For what can we do but smile at death? This contrast of life and death, and how death mocks us. With Marcuses image giving inspiration on how we can face it. The Sword is inspired from Ciceros tale ‘the Sword of Damocles’, where King Dionysius II hung a sword over a court flatters head by nothing but a single horse hair to show him the perils of being a King, and that danger surrounds him constantly. Cicero uses this tale to say that death hangs above us all as the sword loomed above Damocles and like the thread of horsehair which kept it suspended, the line between life and death is fragile and can descend upon us at any moment. BACK OF COIN The back features an apple tree, halve of which is in full bloom and heavy with fruit and some apples fallen on the ground. The second half of the tree is stripped bear and nothing but a skeleton. It symbolises the Stoic belief that death is nothing but a natural process, and in the same ways the trees grow, flourish and bear fruit, the apples must drop when their time comes and all must return to the earth from which they came. We too must follow this natural process. The centre features my own little prayer I say to myself, which is a play on the words of Marcus Aurelius intertwined with the tale of Damocles. That life is fragile and death looms above, this we must remember in all our thoughts, word and actions. On either side of the coin, there are 2 hour glasses, one full and one empty, a popular image in Memento Mori art, it reminds us that our time is finite and on day our hourglasses will run empty. The bottom of the coin has a quote from Seneca. “That your faults die before you do”. I chose this quote as that is our main task day to day, to remove the faults within us and live in accord with Virtue and nature. Ultimately we are against the clock and we don’t know when the time will run out. So each day remember we must strive to ensure our faults die first. Only by removing our faults, our base desires and emotions, our passions can we live like free rational beings. It is a reminder that we must not delay conquering your faults, we must challenge them here and now.
Les Damnés Voici une superbe série de six gravures "Memento Mori" réalisée par l'artiste allemand Alexander Mair, 1605. Collection du Brit...
Paulette Tavormina’s inspiration: The formally composed, poetic, and lavish imaginings of sixteenth- and seventeenth- century Dutch and Flemish, Italian and Spanish still life paintings created and dreamed up by great Old Masters like Pieter Claesz, Adriaen Coorte, Georg Flegel, Maria Sibylla Merian, Caravaggio, Jacob van Hulsdonck (at the Getty Museum), and Francisco de Zurburan, Luis Menendez and Giovanna Garzoni. Noting the resonance of her Italian heritage, Tavormina creates an intense sense of the fullness of seasons, and time passing. The canvases that inspire her and her photography burst with life and flavor and heavenly sensuality. This week I’m celebrating Paulette Tavormina’s glorious and inspiring new book, ‘Seizing Beauty’ (The Monacelli Press). You'll love my selection of her finest still-life portraits and Old Master paintings that inspire her. The book includes excellent essays by Silvia Malaguzzi, Mark Alice Durant, and Anke Van Wagenberg-Ter Hoeven. Lemons and Pomegranates, After J.V.H. (2010) Jacob van Hulsdonck "Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Pomegranate" c. 1620 – 40 Oil on panel, 16-1⁄2 x 19-1⁄2 in. (41.9 x 49.5 cm) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Persimmons, After A.C. (2009) Adriaen Corte Still Life with Three Medlars and a Butterfly, c. 1696–1705. Oil on paper, mounted on panel, 10-5⁄8 x 7-7⁄8 in. (27 6 20 cm). Private collection Paulette’s book covers allegorical moments, as well as botanicals, natura morta, vanitas imagery, and the Spanish tradition of Bodegon paintings (fruit, vegetables and taverna-like props). She finds the most luscious rare and ripe fruits and flowers at Manhattan greenmarkets and shapes them into divine decadence of sexy and suggestive erotica of the most elegant kind. Flowers and Fish III, After G.V.S. (2012) Flowers and Butterfly, After G.V.S (2012) Peaches and Morning Glories, After G.G. (2010) Fruit and Roses, After I.S. (2010) Blackberries and Butterfly, After A.C. (2015) “The essence of these still-life paintings lingers with me as I create my photographs. I hope that years from now someone will stand in front of one of my photographs and be emotionally touched by them, as I have been by works created many centuries ago.” — Paulette Tavormina, 2016 Lemons and Peony, After F.D.Z. (2009) Figs, After G.F. (2009) The sensual and allusive and pensive artistry Paulette Tavormina honors and exults the fruits and flowers of everyday life. And, just like the Old Masters (which included many women painters) there are always secret signs (a caterpillar, a moth, a skull, a fading flower, a brief-lived dragonfly, a cracked glass, a hourglass, dive, playing cards) that suggest inevitable passing and fading of this beauty and the evanescence of life. Sour Cherries, After G.G. (2011) Vanitas V Journeys, After D.B. (2015) “Growing up in a Sicilian family, food was the central focus of our gatherings. The lively conversations, preparation, and creation of every feast were as important as the celebration of sitting down together and breaking bread. The legacy of these culinary traditions is emblematic of my life and textures my work.” — Paulette Tavormina Peonies (2009) Peaches and Hydrangeas, After G.G. (2015) “In the 1990s, when I was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a close friend introduced me to seventeenth-century still-life painters, including Giovanna Garzoni and Maria Sibylla Merian. Around the same time, my work as a commercial photographer was beginning to develop. The sensuality of the Old Masters and the technicality of photography appeals to me; in my photographs, I am directly inspired by classic natura morta imagery and the abundance of perfectly imperfect flowers, fruits, and vegetables that I find in the markets.” — Paulette Tavormina Basket of Fruit, After M.M.D.C (2011) Blueberries and Apricots, After G.G. (2013) About Paulette Tavormina Paulette Tavormina lives and works in New York City where she stalks the city’s many farmers markets searching for the perfectly imperfect flora that characterize her photographs. She highlights the fruit, leaves, rare weeds and flowers as well as oysters (a favorite Dutch detail) and lemon peels, in her the lavish table settings. But look at how she loves a little decay…the wilted leaves, the faded flowers, the juicy peaches and plums with bugs and creatures creeping and crawling. Lemons and Prickly Pears (2013) Giovanna Garzoni "Still Life with Bowl of Citrons" Late 1640s Tempera on vellum 27.6 × 35.6 cm (10 7/8 × 14 in.)The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Tavormina’s photographs are in museums, and in corporate and private collections and they have been exhibited in Paris, London, Moscow, Lugano, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston and Chicago. Tavormina, who is largely self-taught, currently photographs works of art for Sotheby’s and works as a commercial photographer. Previously, Tavormina was a prop and food stylist in Hollywood, her work seen on the screen in films such as Nixon and The Perfect Storm. Cardoon and Radishes, After J.S.C. (2010) Paulette Tavormina Photography All images here are by Paulette Tavormina, and used with specific permission. Thank you, Paulette. PAULETTE’S NEW BOOK AND SHOWS: Rizzoli Book Signing : Robert Mann Gallery and The Monacelli Press will host a one-night exhibition, celebration and book signing for the newly published book Paulette Tavormina: Seizing Beauty at the beautiful new Rizzoli Bookstore on May 11 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Photo London : Robert Klein Gallery will be exhibiting work at Photo London, which will be held at Somerset House, London May 19–22, 2016 Paulette Tavormina Seizing Beauty book and print set are available for purchase. ALSO AT: MARCH, 3075 Sacramento Street (near Baker), San Francisco. www.marchsf.com Plums and Chinese Walnuts, After G.G. (2013) CONTACTS: Paulette Tavormina Photography www.paulettetavormina.com The Monicelli Press www.themonacellipress.com
The journey of Harrison Ford's character in The Fugitive has withstood the test of time. Since 1993, many thrillers have explored similar themes.
