Vanitas: Tell Me How You Feel Part II

DMM-2022-00014

Vanitas: Tell Me How You Feel Part II

Bakpak Durden

Created: 2019
Photographed: 2022-07-28

Mural painting and decoration, American--Michigan--Detroit--21st century.
Skull in art.

A dark scene with a macabre motif. At the left of the composition is a thick light-colored melting candle in ceramic candle holder decorated with blue and white reminiscent of Delftware. The candle holder contains a drip tray and finger ring. Wax drips have accumulated in the saucer near the finger ring. A flame and smoke (?) appear to blow to the left. Beneath the candle holder and running across the width of the composition is a narrow wooden ledge. Light from the candle above it casts a shadow onto the surface below. On the right a human skull is grasped within human hands across its crown and eye and nose sockets and chin. The skull faces outward with the hands opening the jaw slightly. A thin blue triangle surrounds each wrist and beyond the triangles the skin color is rendered in a monochromatic grey scale. Behind the skull are what appear to be the clothing and head of the figure whose arms appear in the composition. These forms are also painted using shades of grey. In the middle ground is a multi-paneled wooden object, possibly a piece of furniture, with visible wood grain. Signed in the lower right corner "Bakpak Durden".

Murals in the Market

Still Image

Address: 1798 Erskine St., Detroit MI
Coordinates: 42.351289, -83.040629

paint on plywood