Carly Troncale

My most recent work draws on the visual language of 16th and 17th century vanitas still lives, an artistic genre that utilized opulent arrangements of symbolic objects like skulls, rotting food, and snuffed out candles to remind viewers of the transience of earthly life and the inevitability of decay. In this new series of drawings, I draw on motifs that suggest impermanence and death common within vanitas reinterpreted for our contemporary age. This mixture of the ephemeral and obstinately imperishable serves as a sobering reminder that even while we each face our mortality, the manifestations of our consumption and social impact will linger well beyond our lifespans.