Taste

Title: Taste (Hackberry Emperor Series)
Medium: Oil on canvas, oil on linen, vintage collage, specimen in shadow box
Sizes: 60"×48" (main) + 22"×28" + 10"×8" + 8"×6" + 3"×2"
Year: 2026
Status: Available (Complete Set Only)
Investment: $50,000
 
What happens when a butterfly dies while you're painting it?
You witness something.
I was finishing a small painting from the "Spot the Difference" series when I realized it needed something. I spent an hour searching for the right insect. Butterflies, moths, ants, mantis—nothing felt right.
I gave up. "Fuck it," I said. "I'll figure it out later."
The second I stepped back from the canvas, a butterfly landed at my feet.
Not metaphorically. Literally. A Hackberry Emperor—a symbol of humility, hidden beauty, quiet resilience.
It didn't fly away. It stayed. For hours. It let me photograph it, film it, even pet it. As if it understood what was about to happen.
I painted it into the canvas.
Hours later, as I was finishing, I looked down.
It was gone. Not flying—passed away. A quiet life had arrived to be witnessed, stayed long enough to become memory, and left as the painting became its echo.
What You're Acquiring
This isn't a single painting. This is a five-piece installation exploring death as transformation.
Piece 1: The Large Painting (60"×48") The main composition. A drag racing car. Changed text reads: "Death is a doorway. Open the throttle." The driver is a skull. "Memento Mori"—remember you will die. But not as ending. As threshold.
Piece 2: The Medium Painting (22"×28") The same composition, scaled differently. Different text. "If ever exists. Why are you scared?" The skull morphs. The meaning deepens.
Piece 3: The Collage Study (10"×8") The original reference material from your found magazines. This is where the idea started.
Piece 4: The Skull Study (8"×6") A miniature anatomical skull with "Memento Mori" tattooed across its forehead. This was your reference model. Now it's an artifact.
Piece 5: The Butterfly (3"×2") The Hackberry Emperor in a shadow box. The exact butterfly that appeared, stayed, died. Preserved. Witnessed. Remembered.
The Synchronicity
You have film footage of this:
The butterfly appearing
The butterfly staying for hours
You petting it
You painting it
Its final moments
This isn't manufactured narrative. This is documented reality. The butterfly chose the canvas. The butterfly chose to stay. The butterfly's death became part of the artwork.
The Meaning
Memento mori isn't morbid. It's liberation.
Remember that you will die. That everyone you love will die. That everything is temporary. And that means: everything matters. Every moment. Every butterfly. Every painting.
The Hackberry Emperor lived its brief life. It appeared to you. It stayed as you painted. It died as your work was completed.
Now it lives forever in this installation.
This is what it means to transform.
Installation Notes
The five pieces must be acquired and displayed together as a complete work. The relationship between each—collage to painting, painting to studies, studies to specimen—creates the full conceptual conversation.
The butterfly in shadow box should be displayed at eye level, close enough to see the details. The larger paintings frame the composition. The skull study sits between them as reminder.
This is an entire room of meaning. A complete meditation on mortality and transformation.
 
Investment: $50,000
Payment plans: 3-6 months, zero interest
Example: $8,333/month × 6 months
Or: $12,500/month × 4 months
Shipping: Professional art logistics, fully insured (included)
Installation support: Consultation on display arrangement (included)
Documentation: Digital copy of filmed process (included)
Certificate of Authenticity: Signed document for all five pieces