Backstroke
Acrylic, oil, and charcoal on canvas
6 ft × 3 ft
When the body forgets its own weight. Only movement remains.
When the body forgets its own weight. Only movement remains.
This work explores surrender through motion rather than emotional rupture. Suspended within water, the figure appears elongated and fluid, existing in temporary alignment with its environment rather than in resistance against it.The composition carries a sense of upward movement despite the stillness of the pose. The extended arm cuts vertically through the canvas, creating the sensation of a body stretching beyond containment—part swimmer, part current.Unlike the psychological density present in many of the artist’s other works, this piece operates through atmosphere. Water becomes less a setting than a condition: cooling, suspending, softening the boundaries between body and space.The figure does not appear performative or guarded. There is ease here. A rare moment where sensation exists without conflict.
This work explores surrender through motion rather than emotional rupture. Suspended within water, the figure appears elongated and fluid, existing in temporary alignment with its environment rather than in resistance against it.The composition carries a sense of upward movement despite the stillness of the pose. The extended arm cuts vertically through the canvas, creating the sensation of a body stretching beyond containment—part swimmer, part current.Unlike the psychological density present in many of the artist’s other works, this piece operates through atmosphere. Water becomes less a setting than a condition: cooling, suspending, softening the boundaries between body and space.The figure does not appear performative or guarded. There is ease here. A rare moment where sensation exists without conflict.
The palette shifts dramatically from the darker tonal structures seen elsewhere in the collection. Saturated aquas, electric blues, and coral oranges create a heightened sensory environment that feels almost sun-soaked in its intensity.The neon border introduces a constructed edge around an otherwise fluid composition, reinforcing the tension between freedom and framing that recurs throughout the artist’s work.Gesture remains loose and immediate. Lines drift across the surface like currents or passing reflections, preserving movement even within stillness.The feathered extension at the top of the canvas subtly destabilizes realism, allowing the figure to move beyond literal representation and into something more mythic and atmospheric.
The palette shifts dramatically from the darker tonal structures seen elsewhere in the collection. Saturated aquas, electric blues, and coral oranges create a heightened sensory environment that feels almost sun-soaked in its intensity.The neon border introduces a constructed edge around an otherwise fluid composition, reinforcing the tension between freedom and framing that recurs throughout the artist’s work.Gesture remains loose and immediate. Lines drift across the surface like currents or passing reflections, preserving movement even within stillness.The feathered extension at the top of the canvas subtly destabilizes realism, allowing the figure to move beyond literal representation and into something more mythic and atmospheric.
