Gold Is Temporary Death Is Forever

Schmincke oils on canvas. Size: 100 x 80 cm, Anton Terziev, 2020-2021

Photo: © the artist
Courtesy the artist

Title credit: Svetoslav Todorov - journalist, editor and writer
Collaborating since 2019

Part of No Time For Losers series of drawings, photogprahy, object and paintings (2019-)

Partly inspired by the great Nicolas Winding Refn's Too Old To Die Young (2019) cinematic color palette, the memento mori macabre imagery and the 80s Miami retro neon aestetics

Last shown at RED exhibition, Arosita Gallery, 9-21.01.2022, curated by J Pank

Gold Is Temporary Death Is Forever - detail. Photo: © the artist

In the series No Time for Losers I examine just that – what it takes from you, what and whom you pay, who constructs the content of success as a symbol and metaphor, what is its shelf life? I do it through the well-known moment of triumph, mandatory for sport photographers. A freeze-frame, in which I comment on the role interrelations between the award, the awardee and the award presenter.

I hit the brakes on the rat race for quick, immediate, instagrammable success. This concept is like a tomb. A remarkable pantheon, which you furnish meticulously with awards, trophies in your CV and what not, to the last day of your life.

Whoever wants to be a „relevant participant in the processes“ knows that things like vulnerability, exposedness and sensitivity smell of failure, they don’t make you competitive on the market. Like in sports, whose direct aesthetics I borrow for my series.

From an early age, you have to run in the right lane or track. Lest you compete on top level but outside of the field, or even worse – out of the range of the cameras reporting the game from the pitch.

at RED exhibition, Arosita Gallery, 9-21.01.2022 Feat. S. Pankova
Photo: © the artist

Anton Terziev’s *Gold Is Temporary Death Is Forever* encapsulates the artist’s ongoing interrogation of competitive culture and mortality, themes central to his *No Time for Losers* series. Painted in oils with vivid, contrasting hues of blue and red, the work places a skull—long recognized in Western art as the quintessential symbol of memento mori—front and center. The phrase “Gold Is Temporary Death Is Forever,” emblazoned on the left and right sides of the canvas, underscores the fleeting nature of worldly achievements when measured against the absolute finality of death.

Terziev’s compositional approach is stark yet powerful. The skull occupies the canvas in a near-iconic manner, its prominent size reinforcing its role as a universal reminder of human finitude. Painted with impasto technique, the skull’s surface is deeply textured, conveying a tactile sense of decay and underscoring the subject’s visceral power. The dramatic color split—blue on one side and red on the other—functions as both an aesthetic and symbolic device. The cool blue could suggest the aloofness of mortality from the fervor of daily life, while the hot red evokes passion, ambition, and the urgent, often feverish, pursuit of success. Together, they form a chromatic tension that echoes the duality of Terziev’s message: the allure of triumph set against the inescapable reality of death.

In traditional memento mori imagery, a skull frequently appears alongside objects such as extinguished candles, hourglasses, or wilting flowers, each illustrating the impermanence of life. Here, Terziev incorporates a gold medal—clenched between the skull’s teeth—as a contemporary stand-in for earthly vanities. While the medal gleams with an aura of accomplishment, it also reads as a stark reminder that even the highest accolades cannot transcend human mortality. The juxtaposition of a celebratory symbol with a grim relic of death resonates with vanitas painting, a subgenre of still-life popular in the 17th century, which aimed to convey life’s fragility and the folly of worldly pursuits. Terziev intensifies this effect through text, using bold typography to deliver a succinct warning that echoes across centuries of artistic reflection on the brevity of life.

The artist’s vigorous, textural brushstrokes lend a sculptural quality to the surface. This heavy impasto invites the viewer to see not just the image but also the very process of its creation. In this sense, the painting’s tactile physicality aligns with the tradition of Expressionism, wherein the energy of the brushwork carries emotional weight. By working in thick layers of oil, Terziev heightens the painting’s dramatic tension, emphasizing the tangibility of the skull and medal as objects of contemplation.

Within Terziev’s broader series, *No Time for Losers*, *Gold Is Temporary Death Is Forever* stands as a particularly striking commentary on the cost of winning in a society obsessed with success. Where other works in the series may focus on athletes or champions, this painting strips away the living figure altogether, reducing the moment of triumph to its most essential symbols. In doing so, Terziev makes a statement about the emptiness that can lie beneath the relentless chase for first place, suggesting that the true victor is inevitably time—and, ultimately, death.

By fusing a classical memento mori motif with contemporary references to athletic glory, Terziev’s painting resonates with the grand tradition of vanitas art, yet speaks pointedly to modern-day audiences. It recalls the cautionary lessons of Dutch Golden Age still lifes, while also engaging with more modern tendencies toward bold color, conceptual text, and the layering of paint as a visceral mark of artistic presence. The result is a visually arresting piece that invites reflection on both personal ambition and the shared human condition.

*Gold Is Temporary Death Is Forever* exemplifies Anton Terziev’s ability to bridge historical and contemporary art forms, delivering a poignant reminder that the luster of gold medals—and the broader concept of victory—pales before the certainty of mortality. Through dramatic contrasts, rich textures, and succinct yet potent text, Terziev creates a 21st-century memento mori that confronts viewers with the profound and eternal question: how should we live, knowing our time is finite?