Til Death Do Us Part
Emulsion on canvas
24"x 36"
2025
Emulsion on canvas
24"x 36"
2025
For sale via le cèr
This painting is Collins' first in a developing series, in which he explores themes such as love, mortality and the Sublime through portraits of skeletal remains. Here, Collins has depicted the so-called "Lovers of Valdaro", a pair of neolithic skeletons locked in each other's tender embrace for eternity.
In Til Death Do Us Part, Collins departs dramatically from the vivacity of his "Model Citizens" series. Rather than celebrating the living, Collins examines the dead. Whereas the paintings "Model Citizens" seem to try to freeze youth and to defy mortality, the above painting lays bare the finality of death while alluding to the transcendent and atemporal nature of love.
Collins employs his signature, limited palette and high-contrast style to accentuate the subjects' broken and weather-worn bones. However, Collins relinquishes compositional control in favour of accuracy, drawing the viewer's attention to reality of his subjects. For Collins, the truth of this embrace is more interesting that any imagined, idealized composition would be.
