A Vanitas Painting

— Benjamin Slinger

Curated by Benjamin Edwin Slinger.

EVENT 1 —Friday 5/5/17 6 – 9PM
EVENT 2 — Friday 12/5/17 6 – 9PM

Alex Margo Arden
Emily Pope
George Henry Longly
Liv Fontaine
Maria Gorodeckaya
Sung Tieu
Than Hussein Clark

‘Vanitas is a category of symbolic works of art, especially those associated with the still life paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries in Flanders and the Netherlands. The Latin noun vānĭtās (gen. -ātis) means “emptiness”, from the Latin adjective vanus, meaning empty, and thus refers in this context to the traditional Christian view of earthly life and the worthless nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. In Christian philosophy, the word “vanitas” derives its prominence from the Ecclesiastes, and in the Vulgate 1:2; 12:8 the verse is rendered as Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas. In the King James Version, however, it is translated “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”, and therefore the English word “vanity” is used in its older (especially pre-14th century) sense of “futility”.’
(Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas)