Ankaris Oil Painting Project

Tibetan monks perform a sky burial on the dead, they understand the raw vessel is but an empty shell, recycling the raw matter of our bodies back to the earth. The spirit has moved on.
What if the giant ships that ply the space lanes are built around a sentient AI? What if that AI possess a spirit? And when that AI has passed? The lumbering hulks are all that remain and they are given a sky burial.

About the work:
This is a traditional oil painting project I started in 2009 inspired by ship breaking but on a scale that dwarfs our sea going equivalents. As a film matte painter and concept artist I'm highly influenced by cinema - in this instance - David Leans, Lawrence Of Arabia.

The goal is to produce enough work for a large format book which may include short stories set in this world.