Coming Down from a High is Not Easy: Abstraction as Withdrawal
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Coming Down from a High is Not Easy (2020) is part of my Geometric Splendor Collection, a body of work where I investigate the uneasy aftermath of intensity — emotional, physical, or spiritual. This 48 x 36 inch acrylic on canvas pulses with fragmented geometries and unruly brushwork, capturing the disorientation of descent after a euphoric high.
The composition is restless, layered with jagged forms in vibrant reds, deep purples, and fractured yellows. There’s a deliberate imbalance here — an inability to settle, a refusal of calmness. The painting oscillates between energy and exhaustion, celebration and collapse.
While creating this piece, I found a deep kinship with the work of Albert Oehlen, whose chaotic, rule-breaking abstractions challenge the idea of resolution and harmony. Like Oehlen, I aim to disrupt formalism from within, letting the painting unravel itself while still holding traces of geometry and structure.
Coming Down from a High is Not Easy is not a lament, but an acknowledgment of the difficulty of returning to earth after moments of elation. It is about the residual energy, the longing for the peak, and the discomfort of the fall. The painting captures that liminal space where one is neither fully grounded nor soaring — an emotional hangover, a visual stammer.
This work invites the viewer to sit within that discomfort, to recognize the beauty and vulnerability of coming down.
