The Skull Portraits:
The Final Gathering

The Final Gathering is the fifth and final series within the Skull Portraits project. It comprises 774 unique portraits created from a thirty year archive of forensic and radiographic skull records, spanning history through the lifetime of the artist.

Inspired in part by Hans Holbein's Dance of Death, monarchs, artists, scientists, philosophers, explorers, poets, racing drivers, supermodels, spiritual teachers, political leaders are featured alongside individuals of significance from the artist's own life. These have all been brought together in a single gathering, reflecting the shared condition of mortality that unites every human life regardless of status or achievement. Alongside these Archetypes are forty Anomalies, created from both the Skull Portrait archive and selected hand drawn digital portraits; these represent rarer and more unusual expressions, less definable or yet to be fully established archetypical energies or phenomena.

Rather than portraying these individuals directly, each selected skull has become the foundation for a newly created archetypal character. These anonymised figures are based upon the actual skull records of real people whose identities have gradually evolved into universal archetypes. They are not intended as reconstructions of the original individuals, but as new symbolic characters expressing the psychological energy, human qualities and enduring themes embodied by the subjects from which they were created. This is the conclusion to thirty years of exploring portraiture and the perpetuation of identity - the process by which a subject evolves into a representative or symbol of archetypal energy.

The series continues a lifelong artistic exploration of mortality, identity and meaning, where the skull functions simultaneously as a universal human structure and a subtle forensic confirmation of individual existence. While every portrait celebrates the uniqueness of the individual, each also seeks to reveal something more universal: the shared human experience that exists beneath status, appearance, achievement and biography. The project is also an expression of the artist's long exploration into the beneficial impact of art within Terror Management Theory (managing underlying fear of mortality).

Among the historical figures whose skull records have contributed to the collection are Dante Alighieri, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Lorenzo de' Medici, Cosimo de' Medici, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Cheddar Man, Tutankhamun, King Richard III, Emperor Charles V, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Patricia Gucci, Dame Stella Rimington, Oleg Gordievsky, Jimmy Cauty, Gavin Turk, Mike Skinner, Chief Mzee Keleina Ole Nchoe of the Maasai, Geshe Tashi Tsering and others.

The collection will unfold across five successive phases, beginning with unique-editioned digital artworks, unique edition miniature artworks in the form of stamps and unique edition print paintings. Additional phases will include collector cards and narrative experiences. For phase 1, blockchain technology provides the ideal medium for the first release, offering permanence and traceability to works that explore identity, mortality and what ultimately endures.