Influences 1

“Denial Vanitas” Redux

You know that thing that happens when you stare at a single word for too long, and the letters start to separate themselves, become individual symbols, and your brain starts to mistakenly think you’ve misspelled the word? The original form and meaning of the word dissolve into the existential void and our primal phenomenological sensing ability comes back to the forefront, from the recesses of our “reptile brain.” (Comedian Chris Farley’s hilarious take on this concept from the incredible movie Black Sheepfeaturing the word “roads…rooooads…rowads…rroowwads” comes to mind…)

Well, um, anyway. That happened. When I was composing my last blog entry about my new painting, I kept staring at the words “Denial Vanitas,” checking for misspellings before going live with the post, and this psychedelic subconscious shift took place:

Denial Vanitas

Daniel Vanitas

Daniel Vitalis

I’m a huge Daniel Vitalis fan so this is not nearly as surprising as it is amusing. Just thought I’d share.