It Is What It Is

CONTENT WARNING

I cannot stress the importance of nurturing our mental health enough. Depression and anxiety are becoming more prominent every single day.

While working on this painting, I received a message from an important person in my life stating they were contemplating suicide. I immediately dropped my brush on my work and scrambled to call for assistance without hesitation. Fortunately, with the help of others, the situation was controlled and remedied. I refused to work on the painting for a significant time afterward.

“It Is What It Is” is a painting of one of the beautiful buildings in Downtown Calgary. It contains wild architecture that is perfectly bizarre. I like to compare it to our mental state. Every memory and thought is jumbled into one spot and tends to express itself in abstract and non-chronological ways. This painting reminds me of how fragile yet powerful our minds can be.