Memento Lowly, Memento Mori "The Conqueror Worm (A Tribute To Richard Scarry)

Here is a painting I did for a recent group exhibition "Dark Art Show 2018" held at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne.

"The Conqueror Worm" (A Tribute to Richard Scarry) oil on board 2018

Obviously, the theme of the show was "Dark" but for some reason the idea to paint Lowly Worm hanging out with a baby skull among some apples was one of the first ideas that came to mind.
Why? Good question.

A close up detail shot of Lowly

Richard Scarry's books have a special place in my childhood memories. The ones my siblings and I had were probably published in the 70's, but I know Scarry's books were first published in the early 60's. I have a vivid memory of these books involving detailed, busy scenes of anthropomorphic characters in various vehicles and situations going about their business. The one little character that we would always search for in these crowded scenes was Lowly Worm. Lowly was like the Where's Wally of these books.
So, I was a big fan. I hadn't really thought much about Lowly for years, until I started to develop my ideas for the Dark Art Show.
As I have done in my other work, I wanted to explore ideas around mortality and how death has such a taboo associated with it in western culture. My aim was to poke a bit of fun at the somber, serious attitudes towards death. The title of the painting is taken from the Edgar Allan Poe poem "The Conqueror Worm" which essentially tells us we're all going to be worm food one day. Here's the great Vincent Price reading The Conqueror Worm
The apples represent the brevity of life as they too will rot/ become worm food (plus it was Lowly's form of transport). The infant skull is an obvious symbol of mortality, it's also a symbol of childhood innocence, the death of the innocence and the nostalgia for childhood that people reflect on and sometimes yearn for. And Lowly is The Conqueror Worm. Yaaaay!

Me putting some shine on them apples