COFFINS

Custom
Tasmanian Blackwood, glue
87 x 34 x 22 inches
220 x 87 x 56 cm

DayBed
MDF, beech veneer, exotic wood inlay, poplin, foam
92 x 33 x 18 inches
233 x 84 x 45 cm

DIY
Particle board, melamine, masonite, cast aluminum, plastic-coated steel, cotton, polyester, screws
79 x 23 5/8 x 12 inches
200 x 60 x 30 cm

Although many artists can be said to contemplate mortality in their work–usually in a veiled, Robert Frost kind of way–a clearheaded few have cut through the allusive haze and made their contemplation plain. Whether natural selection, death with dignity, or suicide, intimations of death have gotten artists through many a hard night.

For example, Kazimir Malevich designed and built his own coffin without compromising his aesthetics or his politics. Sensing her failing beauty and waning political influence, the nineteenth century seductress and amateur photographer the Countess Castiglione made The Foot, one of her most touching and sardonic photographs.

Staging death is also an effective way to express a wish, foment resistance, or change careers. Artists have dealt with their eventual demise in a variety of forms, such as crystalline inertia (Robert Smithson), weightless dispersion (Andy Warhol), theatrical entombment (Paul Thek), subterranean surveillance (Bruce Nauman), ritualized grief (Gordon Matta-Clark) or delusional grandeur (Bas Jan Ader).

You can enjoy the same piece of mind by investing in your eventual demise. Here at Things That Fall we offer three different burial options. Custom is an elegant and unique vessel crafted in Australia entirely from Tasmanian Blackwood and shipped to you. As the brand name implies, Custom is no off-the-shelf coffin, with not one of its construction angles being a reasonable 90 degrees. Day Bed is just as meticulously crafted as Custom, but its care is devoted to a gorgeous inlaid surface that creates an illusory, coffered effect. Very clean and very modern. DIY is the most economical of the three, but is a great choice for anyone who prefers that their funeral be a modest but stylish affair.

Best of all, as works of art these beautiful objects will only increase in value. As Malevich's austere, Suprematist box suggested, the beauty of having a formal ideology and approaching your death as a work of art is that, when the time comes, you can take it with you.

Custom
$15,000 shipped

Day Bed
$15,000 shipped

DIY
$27.50 shipped (some assembly required)