Persona 2021

Curator: Jason Limon’s "Persona," created in 2021, immediately struck me with its playful yet morbid tone. The figure is a tiny skeleton staring, lost in contemplation or in awe, at a layered skull object that is partially contained inside a decorative box. What are your initial thoughts on this mixed-media piece? Editor: My eye is drawn to the layered effect, as well. The cardboard texture and apparent collage elements introduce an element of manufactured artificiality; like a box of cereal left on a table it serves as an immediate contrast with the gravity of the human skull, our inevitable fate. Curator: The skull is an enduring symbol across cultures. It often evokes mortality and transformation but given Limon’s pop-surrealist style, perhaps here the skull prompts not just contemplation of death, but perhaps a playful take on identity itself, presented in layers. The decorative patterns also suggest the ornamental presentation of persona. Editor: I think that reading hits the nail on the head! The layered materiality also evokes a factory mass-produced commodity, with these repeating shapes and patterns: not individualistic identity at all. Perhaps Limon critiques our reduction to such commodified elements; so disposable a paper product in some ways Curator: And that material juxtaposition creates the central tension in this work! The skull, a timeless symbol of human existence rendered in contemporary, easily-produced materials, like a trendy cardboard kit. The miniature skeleton figure is also crucial, contemplating both identity and ephemerality. It also appears like it could have assembled the model in question. Editor: Agreed, the little skeleton is the key to the whole thing. Perhaps a warning: We may create elaborate identities, social masks if you will, and even play act around death, yet we are all at the end these basic raw bone parts of existence. The artist uses the visual signifiers of death: the symbolic patterns and harlequin diamond shapes: death as a constant game. Curator: I concur. It makes me think about the vanitas tradition in art—objects symbolizing the transience of life—but filtered through our modern consumerist lens. The question then becomes, does consumerism rob us of deeper connection to these enduring symbols, these "truths?" Or does it just change the means of conveying these ideas? Editor: Excellent thought. What seems powerful here in particular is how Limon utilizes a pop, throwaway format to reiterate ancient lessons on living, dying, and creating meaning for both through visual media and art history, too. The packaging and boxing of the icon of death in fact re-signifies the value of that symbol in a fast changing art market, wouldn't you say? Curator: Precisely. Thank you for untangling all these wonderful visual cues with me!