In Nevermore, Maier and Cappuccio summon a meditation on mortality that straddles the gothic and the hyperreal. A skull, rendered with unsettling precision, appears twice—once upright, once reflected—inviting questions about duality, decay, and the soul’s departure.

The work draws its name and cadence from Edgar Allan Poe, but it is not literary nostalgia that drives the composition. Instead, Nevermore functions as a visual requiem: the flaming hearts, the golden lettering, and the mirrored gaze all coalesce into a contemporary memento mori. The handcrafted 24k gold leaf script offers a counterpoint—opulent, delicate, eternal—against the vanitas of the flesh.

Maier’s mastery of industrial materials is again in full force here, but it is tempered by Cappuccio’s ornamental sensibility. Together, they create a painting that gleams with technical virtuosity while resonating with metaphysical gravity.

“NEVERMORE”

2018

Dimensions: 90” X 60”

Medium: Hand crafted 24k Gold Leaf Lettering / Axalta Cromax AT on Aluminum

Artist: Peter Maier