“A Painting Is a Lie That Tells the Truth”

When you look at a painting — especially abstract realism — you are not just seeing an image. You are stepping into the energy of another human being. The brushstrokes, distortions, colours, and tension between what is real and what is imagined are all part of an artist trying to communicate something deeper than words can say.

That is where Picasso’s idea hits home: “Art is a lie that tells the truth.”

The “lie” is the distortion. The “truth” is the emotion, memory, energy, and universal story underneath it.

In this painting, the tiger is falling — hurtling down from the heavens — but he is not going down without a fight. He is surrounded by a luminous, protective world of vibrant colour and swirling shapes. He does not simply face adversity; he transforms it. Even in the descent, he sees beauty inside the struggle.

For me, the tiger carries the trauma of cancer — the surgeries, radiation, morphine, years of recovery, lifelong pain, and the fear of the unknown. Through this work, I reclaimed that pain and forged it into something meaningful.

That is what art can do. It does not just look good. It can do good. It can heal. It can transform fear into strength, grief into beauty, and despair into resolve.

Abstract realism allows us to bend the visible world just enough to reveal a deeper truth. Not so far that it becomes chaos, but far enough that the viewer has to ask: What am I really seeing? A tiger? A fall? A battle? A spirit? A feeling?

And the answer is yes.

We are all painting our lives with the tools we have, hoping our mark says something that matters — that we were here, that we loved, struggled, built, helped, and made a positive impact on the people around us.

So when you look at this painting, you are not just decoding an image. You are meeting my truth through the “lie” of colour, distortion, symbol, and story. And you are bringing your own truth to it too.

That is the shared energy. That is the magic.

Never go down without a fight.
Be the tiger.