Decay

My name is Wendy Flores and my piece is titled Decay. The artwork is a mixed media piece of scratchboard paper, marker, and acrylic. The artwork is symmetrical with the right and left halves looking identical. At the center of the piece is the top view of a paper crow with its wings and tail spread out. The tips of the wings curl slightly upward, making the crow pop a bit from the board. Below it are three crow skulls. The center skull faces towards the viewer with its beak pointing downward. The left and right skulls are looking away, giving us a view of their profiles. Their beaks are open wide and their neck bones go down and toward the center skull. These skulls were made by carving into the scratchboard. The whiteness of their bones. Contrast with the black of the board and crow within the crevices of the bones. Some red painted cartilage and flesh can be seen. This same red tint is also present within the shadows of the paper. Crows feathers, along with some tinges of blue and orange. Surrounding the crows are three dimensional paper flowers of desaturated colors such as white, yellow, red, and blue with a few green leaves. Some of the flowers have small dew drops of water and thin, delicate, spider like threads on them. The top flowers lay beside the paper crow's head. They look colorful and alive. The next set of flowers are below the crow's wings and above the skulls. Heads. One of the flowers is wilting. Some of its petals have already fallen off. At the bottom, below the right and left, crow skulls are wilting. Flowers. More petals are falling and the flower is a very pale pink color. Looking from the top to the bottom, the process of decay is showcased as the once vibrant flowers wilt away. The flowers symbolize life and contrast with the crow, a symbol of death. The skulls foreshadow the living crows fate once it too succumbs to the natural cycle of life. But despite the dark nature of the piece, beauty can also be found and solace as the flowers accompany the crow to its end.