“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.

Keira Knightly attends the UK Gala Premiere of “A Dangerous Method” at The Mayfair Hotel on January 31, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

Daisy Lowe attends The Phillips British Academy Awards 2011 at The Grosvenor House Hotel on May 22, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

(L-R) Natalie Burns and Taunia Arave battle as referee Nick Stevens (R) looks on during the US National Sumo Championships at the Riviera Hotel & Casino June 24, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A spring breaker takes a shot of tequila during a pool party at a hotel in Cancun March 8, 2015. Like previous Florida spring break hot spots Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach, Panama City Beach is facing a crisis of conscience over the trade-offs involved in hosting a binge for some 300,000 students who arrive through mid-April with coolers, beer funnels and credit cards. (Photo by Michael Spooneybarger/Reuters)

A woman protests her eviction from a building she and others invaded about a week ago in the Flamengo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, April 14, 2015. Police dislodged squatters from the building slated for use as a luxury hotel for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

A child looks at window cleaners work while dressed in sheep (C) and monkey costumes, denoting animal signs of the Chinese zodiac calendar, during an event marking the upcoming end of the year at a hotel in Tokyo, Japan, December 21, 2015. According to the zodiac calendar, 2015 is the year of the sheep and 2016 is the year of the monkey. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)