Vessel references the vanitas genre of art that include still life paintings layered with visual metaphors of death and mortality. The play of scale here allows an elk to perch precariously on a branch emerging from the vase, its hooves becoming intertwined with the branches. The elk of Iowa have been pushed from their environment, only to be seen in controlled habitats and refuges. Are these animals, plucked from their environments to be seen for their beauty, similar to flowers in a vase, truly wild, and have we returned them to nature?
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