vincent by Eduardo Zicca

Back-story

After the ragged razor of rejection reduced him to insanity, Vincent left art. His gift was ruined because his style mutated. He was forced to abandon his damaged, muted aethetic for he himself had been abandoned.

And so, on the day of the summer solstice, he left his apartment in an absinthe haze, seeking an antidote for his madness. He groped along the hot streets of Arles and paused in front of an austere, imposing building. It was at that moment that he realized what he had to do. He would withdraw from the artist's life to which he had grown accustomed and hide away in the cavernous library.

Months later, when the cold and the clouds began to suffocate the sun, Vincent finally emerged, equipped with a plan. He had spent his recovery poring over mounds of medical literature, mastering otology and its surgical applications. He was determined to put his extensive knowledge into practice because he was convinced it would return his talent; he needed to restore his left ear to its original shape for, without the lower lobe, he felt a mere fragment of his former self. If his form were flawed, then so too would his art be. Alas, he was an artist whose facade factored greatly into his work.

And so, he set out to find a specimen.