EPITAPH: Definition; "A statement written about the death of a person. Often an inscription on a tombstone."

This is a commissioned painting. The collector asked me to paint a human skull. Other than that, he gave me complete freedom with the piece.

As I painted, and thought what to paint, I began contemplating death. and my mind drifted to the death of not just myself, but of all things. All the life that has lived and died. The life that has become extinct on Earth. All the deaths that mankind has caused and continues to cause.

We are NOW experiencing the biggest mass extinction the world has ever known*. We lose thousands of species each year. This is a fact linked directly to man.
We are crowding everything off this planet as though we could exist alone. I'm talking about plants, animals, insects, reptiles … fungus, you name it. We will eventually be included in the list. … Think not?

This is not some 'Hippie Bullshit'. This is real. We are killing the earth. The greatest minds on the planet agree that we are closer to annihilation than we have ever been.

Read "THE ASSAULT ON REASON" by Al Gore. Read "THE WORLD WITHOUT US" by Alan Weisman … Read "HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL" by Noam Chomsky. These are not mad men. The mad men run the country from behind closed doors and enslave us with entertainments.

Your religion will not save you. Your government will not save you. Your TV, Computer, stereo surround sound home entertainment system will not save you! (nor mine, me) It's TOO LATE.

I have believed these things since I was a teenager. I have been saying this for decades and writing about it for decades … And yet, instead of devoting my life to REALLY doing something about it, I've thought more about my own personal life, and how I might best live through this. I have been a 'dilettante' (a person who cultivates an area of interest without real commitment or knowledge) when it comes to my commitment to the life on our world.

I have contributed more then most to the demise of our species. I have chosen to live a life of comfort while I fully understand the implications of my choices. I suppose that makes me more guilty than those persons who really don't know what's about to happen.

Meanwhile, those who hold the true reigns of power continue to suck the world dry, including me and YOU, so that they might live like the GODS whom they do not believe in.

Watch the movie "ZEITGEIST" (http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/)

I have enjoyed the fruits of this planet, and had to pay little for my pleasures.(as of yet) It is young people who will pay. The things I have seen and experienced are already gone. I remember clear waters filled with native fish in forests filled with giant trees. These things are gone now, replaced with our garbage and shit. What is left is fenced in for the enjoyment of the few who control us.

I believe that the human race will not go our in a blast, but in slow and painful agony. I feel bad for you who do not know what the world was like before we destroyed it. All I can do now is continue to paint and write. The only contribution to sanity that I have made to this planet is my art and my thoughts.
I see little hope. However, you may disagree. After all, the first stage of the enlightenment of grim reality is denial. Some people, perhaps most, do not move beyond this stage. They will die still not believing that we all committed suicide.

* One exception might be a pre-historic meteor hit that caused a ' nuclear winter', attributed to causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.