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This piece is another exploration of the "single seated figure with a story" theme. Although it predates The Letter, it shares a similar sense of layered meaning—an emotional undercurrent beneath the surface.

Where Taking Up Space was about unapologetic presence, this figure represents the opposite. I wanted to see if a complex inner world—marked by vulnerability, performance, and alienation—could also be captured through a single pose. Challenge accepted.

Through gestural exploration, I arrived at a figure sitting slightly hunched on a box in an alley. He’s in costume, vibrant in red and blue, striped socks and all. He holds himself with just enough pride to suggest a mask—he’s not fully himself, not here. He’s performing, even when there’s no one watching. The surrounding figures in the alley are loosely painted, disengaged, indifferent. They enhance the sense that this character is unseen, his story overlooked.

I loved working with the color contrasts: the bright red and blue of the costume warming and cooling as light and shadow shift; the hazy, cooler tones of the alley adding a soft detachment. Atmospheric perspective and a desaturated backdrop build the distance—emotional as well as spatial.
And yes, the crimson smiley face balloon might feel like too much—but that’s precisely the point. It heightens the tension between what appears cheerful and what feels quietly devastating beneath. A grin stretched over something unsaid.