There is an artist
who takes cremains ( cremated human remains )
and for a fee ( and NOT an inexpensive one ) turns them into artwork- a memorial to your loved one – composed of your loved one.
A little strange, but given that Funerals are a way for the living to separate themselves from the dead so that both can go on to find peace is a very necessary ritual. How you chose to do that is personal and I would never question how people to express themselves in this process as long as they find a way to do that which is true to themselves and their beliefs.
So I was concerned when I read that an Artist- with little experience in dealing with people who are going through one of the most devastating experiences of their lives sits down with an Art Review Critic and says things like:
First of all, I could have gotten that philosophy from the pages of any Pop Psychology book that you can grab off of a clearance table at a bookstore or out of a box at a yard sale- but what is disturbing to me is that this Artist is using this philosophy to guide him in consultations with people who have just had a loved one stolen away from them by Death.
Back to the quote- what this Artist says is true- people who have found a ways to make money from the dead is a part of life.
I would advise that if you go into a situation where anyone is asking you for money and death- which has only just started to change the way you used to be- you really need to take someone with you – someone to watch out for you, to make sure you’re not entering into an arrangement where your loved one would say, ” for that much money – just take it and LIVE ”
Keep in mind this Artist never mentions what it’s like to see the deceased before they were cremated, has never had a family member or friend hand him blanket to keep their Mom- who has just passed on- warm on her way to the funeral home because she has always hated the cold- or talks about what it’s like when a Parent hands him their child’s favorite toy with no words and he knows they are doing that because he may be the last person to ever hold their child again.
That lack of acknowlegement concerns me because these are the people he is working with, these are the people he is taking money from I hope that as he pursues this practice he treats these people – the living and the dead with the care and empathy that the most vulnerable of us need.
This Artist needs to realize he is no longer just an artist- he is a guide now and the people coming to him have never been more lost.
Irregular Bones 
Well, not to be blunt [but I am] but this artist sounds like a dick.
My concern is that he’s going into this as an Artist with a concern- working in this field is a huge responsibilty and when the bulk of the interview you do concerns cost well….
Well also I am not sure the dead want to be turned into works of art. I know I don’t. Also he seems to be asserting that because death is a part of life the dead should remain with the living held in stasis in some form of artwork and that to me is wrong also. This is just a Tales of the Crypt episode waiting to happen.
That’s the point to death rituals- passage and seperation, the thing is what happens if this art breaks or gets stained or ruined ? It’s not some THING those are human remains.
No matter what weird form they’ve been forced into.