For a time I was thinking about my mortality and it struck me that we should not be fearful of death. Death does not suddenly come for you. Rather from the day we are born we begin a dance with death. Some of us dance for a long time and some of us only get to dance for a short time, but we all dance. I wanted to make an image of death that was friendly rather than scary. I wanted a picture of death that was obviously death but an inviting figure. I made a woodcut of death with a scythe holding an hourglass but then I put a robe on death that was covered with day-of-the-dead figures dancing. I modified death’s expression to one that was more inviting. one that might convey an invitation to dance with him. I made 3 variations.
Come dance with me No 1 was printed in black ink on Japanese paper. A traditional wood cut.
Come dance with me No 2 I converted it to a lithograph and printed it in color.
Come dance with me No 3 was the same as No 2 but printed on black paper.