I always admired 17th-century Flemish still-lives. So recently that influence unwillingly popped up in my artwork, specifically as a reference to vanitas - a Flemish still life genre that uses symbolism to show the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. It was always obvious to me, that as an artist being obsessed with symbolism, at some point in my life I would turn to vanitas. And it happened naturally, after years of questioning death.
