Ingressive Force is an invitation inward that questions the importance of what is being concealed, revealed, and reflected. The force beneath gestures, guides, and seduces with its many points of feminine entry. Ingressive Force was painted in conjunction with At Night I Dream of Mariupol, a war-time dreamscape reflecting on an emergency blanket with cruciform patterned folds. The series in which these paintings emerge, builds upon concepts I explore in my work relating to our interconnectedness, and the symbolism of mirrors, reflections, and fabric. Fabric represents both a means of protection (in Ingressive Force) and an emblem of vulnerability (in ÖMariupol). In the history of painting, mirrors or one's reflection represents the true image of the soul ñ truth, self-assurance, vanity, self-distortion, etc. As a Neo-Baroque painter, I borrow particularly from the 17th century Dutch Baroque still life lexicon to peer dimly into the riddles of common contemporary experience.