Ouroboros

The ouroboros — the snake biting its own tail — is older than any culture in which it appears. It was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Greeks named it "tail-devourer", the alchemists drew it on the first page of every treatise as the sign that everything returns. A ring has no beginning — and it is the only sign of eternity that can be drawn with a single line.

The series takes that line and runs it over different matter. Gold on blue — a ring laid in leaf over a dark field. A snake on birch bark — scales set into the grain. A dotted field where the body is built from thousands of points, like counted embroidery. A black-and-white pattern in the spirit of street art — an ouroboros gone outdoors. A serpent on tile, blue on white. Gold lands only on the curves, where the ring turns.

Relief on artboard — the body modelled in volume, the scales incised; paint; leaf gold on the curves; dotwork by hand; epoxy resin, which gives the ring the shine of wet skin. The edition is numbered.

A series for a study, a bedroom, a loft, for those who read signs. An ouroboros on the wall is a thing that needs no telling: it tells itself.