“They’ve been obsessing me for years. I searched and found them in Benares, on the banks of the river Gange (India). They arrive here to get rid of everything and to wait for death. This existence can last for years, sometimes decades, almost a life. Opposite to mine, well organised and filled as a human life can be, to try in vain to push the limits of its end”. – Denis Rouvre. (Photo by Denis Rouvre)

I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.

In this handout image provided by the Police of Swiss canton Valais the wreckage of a bus is seen after it crashed inside a motorway tunnel on March 13, 2012 in Sierre, Switzerland. 28 people, including 22 children, returning from a skiing holiday died in this bus accident. (Photo by Police Cantonale Valaisanne via Getty Images)

This image taken from video provided by TVBS shows a commercial airplane clipping an elevated roadway just before it careened into a river in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, February 4, 2015. The ATR-72 prop-jet aircraft had 58 people aboard. (Photo by AP Photo/TVBS)

This photo provided by Running Press and Quarto, Inc. shows Feline Fox from the book, “Cats in Hats”, published by Running Press. The book released on March 24, 2015. (Photo by Liz Coleman/Running Press/Quarto, Inc. via AP Photo)

Alpacas peek out of their box in Kielnarowa, Poland, June 11, 2014. A total of 35 female and 3 male alpacas were imported from Chile by the Rzeszow University of Information Technology and Management Center Zoo to be used for the therapy of children. Alpacas also provide one of the most expensive wools. (Photo by Darek Demanowicz/EPA)

This photo provided by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, is surrounded by performers during a celebration marking the nation's 74th anniversary in Pyongyang, North Korea, on September 8, 2022. (Photo by Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Photo)

Monkeys climb on top of tourists during the Lopburi Monkey Festival on November 27, 2022 in Lop Buri, Thailand. Lopburi holds its annual Monkey Festival where local citizens and tourists gather to provide a banquet to the thousands of long-tailed macaques that live in central Lopburi. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)