Skin Disintegrates, Time Amasses (2) (2023) Drawing by Anton Terziev

Anton Terziev’s *“Skin Disintegrates, Time Amasses”* presents an extraordinary meditation on mortality, time, and the inevitable decay of the human body. With a delicate balance of realism and symbolism, this memento mori drawing compels the viewer to confront the transitory nature of life, focusing particularly on the inescapable passage of time.
The central motif of the work, a detailed and haunting skull, evokes the traditional genre of memento mori, which has historically served as a reminder of the fragility of life and the certainty of death. The skull’s toothy grin, its surface polished to a shine, forms the focal point of the piece, drawing the viewer's eye as it gazes outwards with chilling emptiness. Yet Terziev adds a unique twist to this classical theme: affixed to the skull’s brow is an antique pocket watch, its face frozen in time, an unnerving reminder of how time both accumulates and slips away.
The contrast between the skull's smooth, tactile surface and the sharp, calculated design of the timepiece creates a striking tension between life and death, the organic and the mechanical. The watch, almost seamlessly integrated into the structure of the skull, serves not only as a temporal marker but also as a symbol of the inevitability of time’s grasp on all things. Its presence suggests that while the skin may disintegrate, time—ever persistent and omnipresent—continues to accumulate, indifferent to the decay of the body.
Terziev's use of medium further enhances the impact of the piece. The combination of pencil and acrylic results in a piece that is both strikingly realistic and subtly surreal. The meticulous pencil work brings an intense level of detail to the skull and watch, rendering them with a tactile precision that is almost unnerving in its lifelike quality. The shading around the skull’s contours, from the sharp cheekbones to the darkened eye sockets, creates an uncanny sense of volume and texture, giving the image a three-dimensional quality that seems almost to emerge from the page.
The acrylic medium, applied with more freedom and fluidity, enhances the background, creating a gradient of gray tones that envelop the skull. This ethereal backdrop underscores the themes of decay and emptiness, subtly reinforcing the notion of time's inevitable erosion of both the body and the space it inhabits. The gradient's soft, seamless transitions between light and dark mirror the process of aging and decay, where everything is touched by time’s hand, often imperceptibly, until the final moment.
The inclusion of the watch’s face frozen at a particular time—its ticking interrupted—raises important philosophical questions. Time, as it appears in Terziev’s work, is both a tool and a tyrant. The moment captured in the watch suggests the endless accumulation of seconds, minutes, and hours, but it also draws attention to the fragility of the human experience. It is not the passage of time that Terziev seems to question, but the human capacity to acknowledge and contend with its ultimate implications. Time amasses, relentlessly, yet it renders the human form vulnerable and transient, eroding the skin that protects it.
The positioning of the skull and its glaring empty eye sockets evokes a sense of abandonment, as if the soul has already departed, leaving behind only the skeletal remains. The skull’s expression—neither joyful nor sorrowful—emphasizes the inescapable nature of death. There is no escape from time, no escaping the inevitable disintegration of the flesh, making the viewer ponder what remains after all has passed away: only the weight of time itself, ever amassing, ever moving forward.
Terziev’s *“Skin Disintegrates, Time Amasses”* is not merely a reflection on death, but a profound exploration of time’s dominion over life and decay. The piece does not just invite contemplation on mortality but also challenges the viewer to acknowledge time’s continuing presence even as the human body fades away. Through precise technical mastery and subtle emotional depth, Terziev gives form to the invisible, allowing the viewer to reflect on the great cycle of life and death—and the silent, accumulating power of time.

This review delves into the thematic depth and technical prowess in Terziev’s work, engaging with the philosophical undertones that are woven through the drawing’s symbolism.

Part of No Time For Losers series of drawings, paintings and objects (2019-)

Related themes

MortalityAnton TerzievBulgarian ArtistVanityMorbid