In Don’t Turn Out the Lights, I wanted to capture the unsettling, primal tension of lurking shadows and sharp flashes of dread when darkness closes in.
The composition is shrouded in an overwhelming, midnight-black atmosphere, torn open by a central horizon of glowing purple and deep lilac, slashed diagonally by fierce, blade-like streaks of blood red and electric pink. Thick, impasto brushstrokes and aggressive tool scrapes carve through the canvas, creating a stark, jagged rhythm of claw-like marks that pull the viewer straight into the visceral chill of the dark.
Working in oil on paper, the absorbent texture grounds the heavy paint layers while allowing the rough, energetic tool marks to stand out with raw intensity. Don’t Turn Out the Lights is about that instinctual human impulse to hold onto the light when something unseen stirs in the shadows.
