Lindsay West Art - Grief and grieving

Redneck fresco (pigments on toilet paper, joint compound, wood glue, and flour) over handmade acrylic

People die and the world turns; You have to mourn and you have to do the dishes.

I painted a man who'd been mauled by a bear over and over again throughout the alleged five stages of grief. It never feels like stages to me in the moment...just evil and unbearable and complicated.

At first, My reference made me squirm. After spending several hours with it, I could stare at him for hours on end it as if he was a vase of daffodils. Still, out of nowhere, sometimes it'd kick me in the teeth.

Each version of the same subject refers to different versions of grief: vivid, abstracted, violent, heavy, constrained, confused, denied, and regretful, to name a few.

Each piece was accompanied with a scent exploring four out of the five stages of grief; the smell of acceptance was left as an absence.