Day one hundred and sixty-three: I know this sketch is morbid, but a conversation with some friends this evening reminded me of an etching that the Belgian avant-garde artist James Ensor made in 1888 called “My Portrait in 1960.” In it, he imagined himself at the age of 100 as a skeleton. My sketch does the same, but with a twist. I look into a mirror in 2011 and see my future self as a skeleton. Ensor’s art is often, though not always, creepy or rude (or both). I’m not sure what message, if any, Ensor was trying to relay 123 years ago, but today may I suggest the timeless proverb carpe diem?
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