This is the first piece I painted for the Dark Surrealism Series #1, and it set the mood for the entire set of paintings that comprise it. Beginning January 2019, I wanted to challenge myself to just paint as much as I could, as much as time and strength allowed, so that all the emotions that were crowded within me could find some space outside, collected in large format canvases, and me find ease within.

Cuttlefish on a Rubik's Cube is based on an old illustration, one I drew at the beginning of a period I wanted to close and bury deep down. What had began as a profound experience that made me feel capable of love and complicity, eventually turned into some of the worst nightmares any imagination could have ever concocted. Something that would make anyone say something along the lines of "you wouldn't believe it, but these things happen..."

I found myself kind of like partially submerged in a swamp, waiting for what felt like an evil play to be over, and wondering when that would happen. This painting is an oniric take on that murky experience.