DREGstudios! The Artwork of Brandt Hardin: Day of the Dead Coffin

Gangster de Muerto mixed media / 2011

Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is a National Holiday in Mexico and celebrated in different forms around the world. The day of prayer and dedication to the dearly departed is November 1-2 coinciding with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, Catholic holidays.

Every year about this time, a slew of art shows pop up across the country with themes based around The Day of the Dead. One in particular stood out to me last year at Young Blood Gallery in Atlanta with their unique concept for an annual group event. The gallery actually constructs a limited number of wooden coffins to distribute to artists who paint, forge, illustrate, sculpt and otherwise construct their deadicated art. Painlessly enough, through an inquiry with the gallery, they were all too happy to ship a coffin to me gaining me entry into this intriguing exhibit. On Halloween Monday, my coffin for this year's exhibit arrived safe and sound in ATL and will be on display starting this Saturday, November 5th for their annual Day of the Dead exhibit. I'll be rubbing my gorilla glued paws together in anticipation for next year's show and a third coffin but in the mean time, check out these process pictures and what I did this year...

I laid down some spray paints on the raw coffin when it arrived.

My Work Table

Goodies and Toys to Dissect

Gorilla Glue - The only way to bond art for travel.

Here I'm replacing the limbs on the torso of my skeleton I decapitated.

The idea is to place a small round frame above the torso with a portrait inside.

I stuck these guys in my wife Aurora's plant for the skulls to dry in place.

Miniature Gangster Portrait for My 3 inch Frame

Lining

Finished Line Work

Finished and ready to be buried.

With this guy framed, it's time to start putting the pieces together.

Those Skull Flowers you Saw Planted Earlier

I lined the outside with these small flowers.

I shot my buddy Twin a text at 3AM asking for a bullet for an art project. He immediately called back with a very slurred insistence I come over immediately and that I knew he'd be "the only sumbitch who was awake at this hour AND had a bullet!" Thanks for the ammo sicko.