When the refusal to participate in the ‘new crazy norm’ meets the perfect armchair to pick your feet up.
The Tired series investigates the phenomenon of systemic, large-scale exhaustion in contemporary society, examining the precise moment when the individual social facade collapses under the weight of overperformance. Originating from an observation of an existential fatigue that defies physical rest, the project expands into a broader institutional critique of the modern imperative to "seem" rather than to "be." It analyses the linguistic and behavioural defence mechanisms. Such as the common reflex to claim "I'm fine", usually said to mask psychological vulnerability in an environment dominated by hyper-connectivity, exaggerated success and media saturation, all of which results in a relentless commodification of the self.
Positioned between public performance and private collapse, these works capture the physical body at the exact juncture of somatic refusal. By documenting figures who surrender to sleep in compromised, unyielding, or socially inconvenient environments, the paintings recontextualise exhaustion not as a symptom of weakness, but as a deliberate, radical reclamation of autonomy and return to the true self. The act of public rest becomes a quiet subversion of the productivity narrative; by dropping the social mask, the subjects withdraw from the modern machinery of constant presentation to occupy a space of bare truth and collective human solidarity.
