“I began this painting more than six months ago, struggling to produce art amidst a pandemic-driven increased workload, plus coping with daily life stress that only grew. I knew I liked the image, which is a still from a music video, but I spent months just looking at the underpainting, unable to complete the image.

It contains many metaphors that have been swirling in my head, but the work depicts mostly shadows, of the interior of a house that can barely be seen, and of a person which he himself is absent, albeit a pair of shoes. I find shoes to be a rich source of meaning, especially in a capitalist sense - where people can actually spend more than Php 50,000 on a pair, despite rampant poverty. It can represent distinct social greed, which Walter Benjamin characterized as somewhat more difficult to see, compared to the end of the human race. A pair of stark white shoes gleaming against the shadow of a human that no longer exists.”