Impermanence – the condition of continuous change – is a tenet familiar to both Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and Western traditions such as Stoicism.  In the present work, this transience of material phenomena is signified in a synthesis of opposing symbols, both stark and subtle.  A grinning, slightly larger-than-life skeletal bust ostensibly represents death, whilst a golden egg emerges from this peculiar buddha’s crown chakra, suggesting not merely birth, but immortality.  What appears on the surface as bone is, in fact, actual eggshell.  Here, the shells of no less than 49 eggs were painstakingly mosaicked atop a layer of real gold leaf. The cracked egg reminds us of the fragility of life, but it is also merely a veneer beneath which a lustrous light shines. The number 49 is a number significant in Tibetan Buddhism, representing the number of days a soul traverses the bardo state, the period between death and rebirth.  Finally, the large circumpunct – circle and dot – adorning the figure’s third-eye is a symbol associated with medieval alchemists, Masons, and Jungian analysts; the circumpunct appropriately variously represents, gold, the sun, and the immortal Self.

To see more of Edwin’s work and price list, please contact Paul Larsen Gallery at 201-321-4316 or email: info@PaulLarsenGallery.com.