One of 3 works by Chris Heaphy in The Sea Of Tranquility series held in 2008 at Gow Langsford Gallery. Another, Aldrin Tranquility, is held by the Chartwell Trust Collection. The third is called Collins. Purchased from the Gallery by the current owner in 2008.

Small motifs, including revolvers, shrunken heads, skeletons and abstract symbols combine to create the large skull, a symbol of death and mortality worshipped by cultures such as the Aztecs and modern day Mexicans to celebrate and remember their ancestors.

Chris Heaphy was born in 1965 of Ngai Tahu and European extraction. He attended the Canterbury School of Fine Arts and in 2998 graduated from RMIT University in Melbourne. He has been successful in securing a number of grants and fellowships in clufding Te Waka Toi (1993, 1994), The Olivia Spencer Bower Fellowship (1995) and Creative New Zealand (1999). His residencies include RMIT, Melbourne, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris (2000-2001) and the Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Residency Champgne (2001). He has attracted significant international patronage and success at the 2007 Frieze Art Fair in London.

This is an imposing original one-off oil on canvas measuring 228 x 170 cm, signed and dated by Heaphy. It is in excellent condition. It can be viewed by appointment in Grey Lynn.