Spectacularly Dying is a painting depicting that first nostalgic moment innocence became aware of death. The spark which ignited the ideation of this work began on a camping trip with my nieces and nephew.  The kids found a lizard, made it their pet, then accidentally killed it.  Distraught, they organized an elaborate funeral ceremony. The sincerity at which they conducted this event was endearing and propelled me to document it with my camera. 4 months later I painted this work. The spectacle of death manifested as a snake eating a rodent becomes common ground for the childrens' source of empathy. Contrasting this mentality, mythological Chronus eating his child is a spectacle for the viewer exemplifying a denial and rebellion against imminent death as contrary to empathy and also as a futile struggle to control the inevitable. This juxtaposition alludes to the transformation of one mentality to another using empathy:  ‘self-sustainment at all costs’ to  ‘passing along the torch during a process of death’.