The Court of the Lost Season by Gregory Dalton (Original Drawing)

‘The Court of the Lost Season’ was drawn in 2007 and renovated in 2026. It depicts a gathering after the natural order has broken down, when growth no longer follows the cycles of need, renewal, or abundance. The figures remain arranged within a ceremony of inheritance and exchange, though the season that once gave those rituals meaning has disappeared.

The armless figures suggest a loss of agency. They are present within the gathering but unable to grasp, offer, or defend themselves. Their bodies have become part of an older system, governed by roles they did not choose. Around them, flowers, fruit, and animal forms press against the remains of the human figure. The scene carries the logic of cannibalism: life consuming life, nourishment turning inward, and the body becoming both participant and resource.

Decomposition is present throughout the image. Forms begin to soften, split, and return to the ground. What appears decorative also suggests decay, while the remains of the season continue to circulate through the figures and landscape. The court persists as ceremony without purpose; a ritual maintained after its original order has vanished, held together by habit, appetite, and a quiet authority that no longer answers to life.