Matt Blair Föbel

My name is Matt Föbel, my pronouns are they/them. I am seventeen-years-old and I attend Sherwood Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. I was inspired by classic still life oil paintings with a dark background but a warm glow from the objects. I’ve always loved things that are macabre or have a dark or twisted underlying meaning. I’ve also always loved the idea of creating a narrative through art, so I decided to combine the two. My image represents the fictional life of a Victorian-era musician who contemplates suicide after inadvertently killing his wife and daughter by carrying scarlet fever. I really like the effect that candlelight has on an image so I incorporated elements that are intended to give a smoky and burnt effect. The wording at the top is a quote from one of my favourite artists, Kurt Cobain. I wanted to visually represent the quote by hiding “fade away” in white smoke. A portion of my intent for this piece was to visually represent a candle as a metaphor for life.