Provenance: Private Collection, Singapore

ABOUT THE WORK

Employing his signature style of poetic storytelling by weaving the fantastical with the real, acclaimed contemporary painter Andres Barrioquinto sets his sights towards unconventional modes and aspects of beauty. In this piece, Barrioquinto juxtaposes the gothic elements of his subject-matter with conventional signifiers of beauty. The skull— an almost universal symbol of death, decay, and suffering— is placed alongside a multitude of colorful and vibrant flora and fauna. Barrioquinto effectively uses this gothic aesthetic in order to transpose and subvert our own expectations and prejudices. Instead, he transforms this symbol of death onto a promise of renewal and the hope for life itself. Barrioquinto effectively encapsulates the old adage “all that is sacred is profane.”