I did the first skull portrait of myself back in 1995 as a way to show who I really was inside, beyond the facade. I wanted to establish my own voice and define myself on my own terms. I saw a disparity between how others saw me and who I saw myself as being and I was driven to explore this further.
I wondered if it was possible to reveal some deeper hidden essence of my identity, beyond the visible cues that the surface can reveal.
Now in their 31st year and five series of subjects, the skull portraits are always evolving and I continue to make different series of subjects while working on commissioned portraits.
Portraits of an individual, couple or a group, (which is now based on a non-radiation M.R.I. scan) works on different levels but principally it offers the subjects the chance to examine a deeper, intimate record of who they are beyond their name and who others see them as being. It also looks at how your identity continues to evolve even after your passing.
A short film giving an insight into the process of a skull portrait commission.
PREVIOUS SKULL PORTRAITS
"In my skull portraits I aim to reveal some deeper essence of the subject's identity balanced with my own subjective impression or experience of them".
Alexander de Cadenet
"These works act as a celebration of existence while simultaneously questioning the value of wordly endeavour"
Tarnya Cooper, Ex-Chief Curator National Portrait Gallery, (1999)
"In his skull portraits, de Cadenet is using modern art language and processes to communicate the vital spiritual teaching of death in a way that is relevant to our time"
Patrick Howe, author of 'The Awakened Artist', in Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine (2016)
"De Cadenet’s Skull Portraits re-energise the long histories of the painted vanitas….There is a ghoulish humour in de Cadenet’s jest with the skull image: these will persist, of course long after we become crematorium dust"
Professor Sarah Wilson, (2010)
"Alexander de Cadenet's "skull portraits" are a long-running series, started in 1996, where he uses X-ray machines to capture the inner bone structure of notable sitters. The technique intentionally obscures the specific identity of the person, transforming them into "universal ciphers for the human condition" and raising questions about mortality and identity"
Richard Dyer, (2015)
"The artist uses images and sculpture to dispel taboos about death and reveal the souls of his subjects"
Fabrizio Fasanella, (2021)
"The skull portraits tackle both the the idea of mortality and also the question of how we construe human identity"
Edward Lucie-Smith, (2016)