A lot of inspiration for my work comes from Catholicism and its preoccupation with memento mori. Painted by @carlayoubi, I commissioned this portrait of my beloved cat Chonk and myself in the same vein as “Madonna and Child” by Il Sassoferrato and “La Pietà” by Michelangelo. Meant to be a loving satire of some of my favorite works, it ties in aspects of my occupation with the skull, my deep love of my fur-child in the depiction of Chonk in my embrace, and my fascination with Catholic artwork with the red in my hair reminiscent of depictions of the Virgin Mary. Wealthy people of times gone by would often commission portraits of themselves, and I wanted to do the same in a more modern, light-hearted fashion. I think we should all get more into the practice of commissioning art of ourselves, as opposed to relying on selfies to document our lives.