Robert De Luccia from New Jersey

When you've reviewed all the semi-finalists,
then go VOTE!
You can only vote for one.

Return to the page displaying all 10 Semi-Finalists

UGLY TRUTH

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty"...
Keats concluded rather smugly.
I can't really buy his creed.
Romantic fantasy won't fill my need.
'Cause in the real world I've noticed there's
Less that's Beauty and more that's ugly.

My fabrication is dark indeed
With buck tail hair on tea dyed skulls,
A bullet casing made of brass,
Some garish stones and faceted beads,
Bits of feathers and baubles of glass.
And, topping it off, this "joy forever"
Highlights a polished jaw, orthondontia and all,
Scrimshawed like a Gravettian wall.

I think, John Keats, YOU would swoon
If confronted with this ugly creation
Knowing your penchant for dainties and mead.
That's your problem: another thorn of life
On which to fall and bleed.
But Josef Conrad, with a heart of darkness,
Might smile to see a manifestation
Of his "fascination with abomination."

List of Materials

Found Objects
1. Fossilized deer jaw
2. .357 magnum casing
3. Scapula
4. Buck tail hair
5. Feathers
6. Orthodontia wire and caps

Other Material - Inlay
1. Turquosie
2. Sugilite
3. Malachite
4. Gold Lip Mother of Pearl

Beads
1. Tea dyed skulls
2. Glass beads
3. Assorted pearls
4. Bone beads
5. Coral beads
6. Quartz beads

CONTEXT

Robert provided several images with his Ugly Necklace superimposed on different people and characters to make a point about Context. Among them, one was with a Neanderthal "Cro on his way to cave warming (matching femur not included)"; another was Queen Elizabeth "Fit for a Queen (reviewing her guard)"; yet another was on Marge Simpson "Springfield Chic". He wrote,

Human or toon, royal or rocker, fashion conscious or barely conscious, these icons look great in the UGLY TRUTH necklace. It is an object whose place in the tradition of adornment is unfettered by culture, history, gender, occasion or taste.

He and we were uncertain about the copyrights to the downloaded images he used, so we have not reproduced them here.