Rainforest Jasper Skull Statue: "Skull of Honor"

Rainforest Jasper Skull Statue: "Skull of Honor"

Artist: Luis Alberto Quispe Aparicio

Stone Source: Australia

Year: 2017

Measurements: 9.8 x 7.9 x 5.9 inches (25 x 20 x 15 cm) 

 Artwork origin: Peru

The war is an honorable profession; we have before us a permanently retired member of those honorable ranks, given form using the variegated Rainforest Jasper from Australia. Our permanently smiling skull-at-arms has been given the Luis Quispe treatment, as revealed by a couple of sly and subtle digs. The Pickelhaube helmet that he proudly sports is a holdover from the days of the Kaiser and trench warfare: a bloody business completely at odds with the glorious pictures painted by recruiters for that mass tragedy. Many police and military groups in South America still wear a version of this venerable headgear. Tradition dies hard. Next, in the subtle hints category, is what's under that spiky Stetson. This is the only one of the "Faces of Eternity" collection that you are invited to remove the headpiece, suggesting that our old "war dog" might need to have his head examined. Either that or Dr. Lecter has gotten to him first. The base for this lapidary commentary is of deep black Obsidian with vermeil furniture bearing helmeted skulls at the corners.

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Collection 

FACES OF ETERNITY 

Set of Skull Statues: "Faces of Eternity"

Artist: Luis Alberto Quispe Aparicio 

Skulls: Seat of personality. Sign of poison. Mobile home for 100 billion brain cells. Skulls: Archetypes. Relics of revered ancestors. Symbols of secret societies. Calaveras. Skulls: Memento Mori. Battle trophies. Warnings. Black Magic. Faces of Eternity. 

Few symbols have the universal recognition and the suggestive power of the Skull. Luis Alberto Quispe Aparicio understands that rich history and thematic power. He understands, and he seeks to add his own commentary on this symbol of so many different things. He has done so through his whimsical take on the subject: The Faces of Eternity. "Faces" is a collection of skulls that are ... different. Carved from a variety of natural gemstones, the ensemble is a gentle thumb in the eye of the guy with the hand-operated lawnmower. 

Although he is an engineer by profession, Luis is rooted in the traditions attached to the family art studio, where the production of beautiful articles provided the lure that engineering could not compete with. He, and his sister Sylvia, shares a passion for jewelry design and fabrication that expresses itself in hard-stone carvings and tableaus, usually centered on themes from nature. Luis imagined a collection of skulls more in line with modern culture and sensibilities: Skulls with attitude, Skulls with personality, Skulls that would wink ... if they had eyes. 

Having thought up the concept, Luis spent several years gathering the rough for the carvings. This was not an easy task since the material needed to be: interesting, solid, and big enough to carve a skull out of. Following the materials acquisition part of the program, Luis immersed himself in the actual design and creation of the carvings, spending a year on the project. In general, each skull required anywhere from one to three months to finish. Besides the actual stone working, there remained the design and creation of the accessory metalwork that accents and supports these sculptures. All metalwork is crafted in vermeil. 

After the collection was completed, it went on tour, with exhibitions at: the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) world headquarters in Carlsbad, California; the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as part of the "Gem Artists of North America" exhibit; and finally at the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst, Illinois. 

 

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