Snail

$880.00

Oil pastel on paper. 12 × 18 in. (30.5 × 45.7 cm)
2025, Sacramento CA

This work will be shipped in a rigid tube. It can be easily framed upon receiving.

Categories: , Tag:

About Artwork

Snail occupies a compelling threshold between figurative portraiture and surrealist allegory. The work depicts a male bust against a dark, nocturnal field, rendered with remarkable physical clarity through oil pastel. The torso possesses weight, warmth, and anatomical confidence, while the face becomes the site of symbolic disturbance. The eyes are replaced by an organic, shell-like structure resembling both a snail and a wound, destabilizing the act of perception itself.

Additional information is on the artwork page.

Artwork Specs

  • Medium: Oil Pastel
  • Material: Paper
  • Size: 12 × 18 in. (30.5 × 45.7 cm)
  • Shipped in a rigid tube

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you deliwer worldwide?
Yes. We deliver worldwide. Please enjoy free worldwide delivery on orders from $200.
Drawings and acrylics are delivered in a rigid tube. Extra conditions may apply.
We accept all main payment systems.
All returns must be postmarked within thirty (30) days of the purchase date. All returned artworks must be in its original condition and packaging. For detailed information on how to return either original work or a print as well as the specific return policies for each, please see the following FAQs

“Snail” transforms the idea of the butterfly effect into a meditation on slow psychological metamorphosis and inward collapse.

Historically, the work resonates with Symbolist portraiture and Surrealist body transformation. One might also detect distant affinities with Francis Bacon’s distortions of identity, though “Snail” avoids violence in favor of introspective metamorphosis. The face does not collapse into horror; it enters ambiguity. The snail motif itself is psychologically rich. In Jungian terms, the shell may function as an archetype of inwardness and protected consciousness — a retreat into the hidden self. The spiral form additionally evokes cyclical time, memory, and unconscious repetition.

Snail, 2026. Oil pastel on black paper. 18 × 24 in. (45.7 × 61 cm)

The black paper plays a crucial role. Instead of serving merely as background, darkness becomes atmospheric substance from which the figure slowly emerges. The luminous pastel modeling creates an almost phosphorescent body suspended between visibility and disappearance.

Technically, the work demonstrates controlled restraint. Unlike the artist’s more chromatically explosive compositions, “Snail” depends on concentrated tonal relationships and carefully balanced contrasts. The reduced palette intensifies the painting’s psychological gravity.

Ultimately, the portrait resists narrative certainty. It presents identity not as stable form, but as something organic, wounded, hidden, and continuously transforming.