Carpe Diem is a one-of-a-kind gilded wall work by Tina Scepanovic, built in 23K red gold, malachite, resin gems and 1980s earrings over a paper clay and MDF ground. 14.5 x 11.5 x 1.5 inches.
Scepanovic made both of her Family Show pieces as an homage to medieval treasure binding — the practice of encasing gospels and important manuscripts in covers encrusted with gold, silver and precious stones, commissioned by the families and churches wealthy enough to flaunt it. Few intact examples survive; one of the finest is a few blocks from Grand Central at the Morgan Library.
Her substitution is the point. In place of Christ and the saints, the relief carries creatures from a day at the beach with her cousins as children — the ones they saw jumping the cold Pacific waves, and a few they imagined or ate at the end of the day. The surface is finished by traditional water gilding: rabbit skin glue, true gesso, clay bole, then 23K red gold, with resin gems and vintage 1980s earrings set in afterward. A few voids are left deliberately empty, the way a binding looks once it has been looted.
The larger of the two, and the one carrying the found jewellery — earrings made in the 1980s to be worn, now fixed into a surface and asked to do something else.
Shown at Love House in the Family Show, 2025. One of a kind — there is no second.
MAKER
Tina Scepanovic
DIMENSIONS
14.5”H x 11.5”W x 1.5”D
MATERIALS
23K red gold, malachite, resin gems and 1980s earrings over paper clay and MDF
TECHNIQUE
Traditional water gilding — rabbit skin glue, true gesso, clay bole, 23K red gold
EDITION
One of a kind
ORIGIN
New York
*Price does not reflect shipping cost, please email info@lovehouseny.com for a quote
