What Is Death?

This was a commissioned piece I did last year.  I think winter is a fitting season to look at one stage of the life cycle we experience all around us, everyday.  Or we would if our culture did not protect us from this uncomfortable but undeniable fact of existence.

Is death a present?  It can be a gift.  When we face the reality of our mortality, it can be used to keep from frittering away our time on senseless pleasures or getting caught up in trivial slights.  If you have been suffering physically for a long time, I'm sure death would be a gift, a gift of rest and release. (Odd side thought - the box shows a Christmas theme but the photo was taken in July.  What could that signify?)

When we look Death directly in the eye, does it look back?  Does is wear rose-colored glasses?  Does it remind us of Elton John?  So many mysteries...  :  )

Is death motion frozen in time, a halt to our experience of perceivable phenomena? Or does this image refer the the fleeting nature of life as in, 'it passed so quickly, it was all just a blur'?