A chimerical mobius strip seals us into arterial space. The hybrid sitter's patience seems to be waning. Wryly human in the upper half with hand on hip; glance askance. The lower half engorges to double coil before tapering to twist round the torso to complete the loop at the anonymous gelatinous head.

Flayed like a butcher working on velvet, the claret saturation is mitigated by the clusters of botehs painted in quadratone. Often grouped in threes, they exhibit an ordered autonomy as they navigate the closed circuit.

Ambiguous in aspect, at once lachrimose, larval, and vital, the mini-shoals as ornaments bring wave energy to the organism. There's a promise made of a future escape though one which may not be kept.

The application of paint is exacting and seductive. Full fat and nutrient dense with nothing taken out. The careful juxtaposition of colour bands satisfies like an insignia.

This is a singular portrait of decorous tattooed flesh enjoying a clinician's hospitality. Encoded simultaneously with a recurrent dream of transformation and the realisation of the inevitable return to the waking state.

Part of a Dubel Prize finalist exhibition. Seen on 26 September 2025 at RSA London.