Photo Challenge Entry #29 Biker Hand

I have a friend who emailed me upon seeing this photo series, and his only comment was that "skulls are for motorcycles".  While it is true that the history of skull imagery has been very popular with those commonly seen to be on the "societal fringe" (bikers, and pirates before them), this has not been out of a sense of "evil" as much as it has been out of a sense of recognizing and embracing one's own mortality.  That was, I believe, the message of Michaelangelo (a noted Hell's Angel) when he painted an enormous and incredibly creative skull on the wall of the altar in the Sistine Chapel.  (Focus on the blue sky sections, and you will see it.)  Many pirates, at least the ones we have historical records for, were men of religious faith.  And many bikers today are as well.  As the example of Michaelangelo illustrates, there is yet another group of individuals often seen as being on the "societal fringe", who have also very commonly integrated skull imagery into their daily activities. Artists.

Whether Michaelangelo, Cezanne, DaVinci or O'Keefe, the history of art is jammed with skulls.  These works too, commonly explore the concept and emotions surrounding mortality.  But they also explore the aesthetic properties of the skull as well.  The fact is that while the emotional and psychological attachments that you possess are what draw your attention to a work of art centering around a skull, it is the aesthetic properties of the skull which keep you looking at it, and which allow you to form a connection to the work.  The curvature, the shadows, the fissures, the angles, the texture...all of these things are unique to skulls and all of these things make them therefore uniquely interesting and enjoyable visual objects in and of themselves.

That has really been the goal of this series, for me.  To illustrate the unique and diverse aesthetic properties of skulls apart from the traditional psychological constructs which our society imparts upon them.  To show that from an artistic standpoint skulls can be seen in exactly the same way as we see flowers.  That is why throughout this series I have used many of the same traditional framing, composition, and/or lighting styles typically used to photograph or paint flowers.  I invite you to revisit all the photos in this series and try imagining them as flowers of various sorts, either singly, in bunches, or in close-up, as the images dictate.  I think you will find it very easy to do so.