"Vanitas (Latin for 'vanity') is a genre of art which uses symbolism to show the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death." - Wikipedia.

"Whoever believes that pleasure is futile has not dined at a restaurant in Bologna." - Me.

That said, Vanitas has a long history in art, and the symbolism of the skull is often a feature of it. In this case the artist used it in reference to a friend of his, Elizabeth Caplice, who was battling cancer at the age of 32. The intention was for her to spray the "Eternally Yours, Liz" text on the plinth, but unfortunately she took a turn for the worse and (I presume) the artist had to do it. He described it as "an act of defiance and a tribute to her eloquence and courage".

She died on 12 July 2016, almost three months before I saw and shot this sculpture.

I knew nothing of this at the time, of course; I just thought that the sculpture and its sprayed text were intriguing.

Each year the Art Gallery of NSW holds a triple exhibition; the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. The Archibald is for portraiture and is arguably the most famous and prestigious prize in Australian Art. As a GENERAL rule (there are exceptions), the official judges select some political agenda inspired, propagandising skip bin fodder as the official winner, while the People's Choice Award usually goes to someone who has actual talent, and produces a work that is as insightful as it is appealing.

The Sulman Prize is for the best subject painting, genre painting or mural (so... basically anything) and the Wynne Prize is for either an Australian scenery painting or watercolour, or figure sculpture. This sculpture was part of the Wynne exhibit.

We were at the exhibition on this day, almost 7 years before I wrote this commentary in August of 2023. At the time of writing I'm going through my past galleries, excising any reference to PBase in my watermarks and adding metadata into my shots so that they can be uploaded on a site where the owners could, in fact, care less. As I was doing so I stumbled on the folder with this shot, and researched the story behind it. I thought I took only four shots that day, all mobile shots, three of which were of this sculpture. As it turned out, it's just that I took only 4 shots that morning.

For as I was writing this, I realised that I already HAVE a photo for Saturday 8 October in my PAD gallery, and that after the Archibald Prize I must have gone to have lunch at Centrepoint followed by an exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum (of Applied Arts and Sciences). The photos for THAT went into a separate folder on the drive, so I thought these were it for that day. But you know what? Since I've already taken the time to write this commentary, I'm going to load it as a second shot for the day anyway.

7 years may not be an eternity, especially when 7 years ago feels like yesterday. But while I can't give you fame (or such limited fame as my galleries have) for eternity, Liz, I can spot you the better part of a decade.