TEMPTATION

I wanted this diptych to feel like a heartbeat skipped. By stripping the color back to just black, white, and red, the work stops being a "pretty" abstract and becomes a confrontation. It’s visceral. It’s the binary of 'yes' and 'no' with a jagged streak of 'maybe' running through the center.

The surface is a battlefield of texture. I’ve laid down a foundation of stark, architectural whites—not a pure gallery white, but something weathered and lived-in—shattered by deep, abyssal blacks.

 

• The Left Panel: Dominated by heavy, obsidian strokes. It represents the gravity of the shadow—the part of us that dwells in the "darker" impulses. The black is applied with a heavy impasto technique, creating shadows that change as you walk past the piece.

• The Right Panel: The "Cold Light." It’s a vast expanse of fractured white, representing the logic or the "clean" path we’re supposed to take.

• The Connective Tissue: A singular, aggressive slash of crimson. I didn't want the red to be subtle. It’s the blood in the veins; it’s the forbidden fruit. It bleeds across the gap from one canvas to the other, dragging the darkness into the light.

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"The red isn't just a color here; it’s the adrenaline. It’s the physical manifestation of the urge that bridges the gap between who we are and who we are afraid to become.”

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The inspiration was the concept of the threshold. I was thinking about the noir aesthetic—that high-contrast world where there is no middle ground, only the choice you make in the heat of the moment.

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In a world of grey areas, I wanted to create something that felt absolute. The red represents the "point of no return." Once that streak of color hits the white canvas of our intentions, everything changes. It’s about the beautiful, terrifying moment of surrender.

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