This collection of figurative oil paintings and portraits depict states of being in which the subject is confronting various qualities of relationships, whether it be with others, themselves, thought systems or their place in the world. Some of the subjects are stuggling with emotional states of disconnect while others are seeking, or in some cases, discovering states of connectedness within.

The vertical division of panels represent the illusion of separatness that the subjects experience. The narrow panels that are found between individuals, in some of the paintings, symbolize the wholeness or oneness of life that exists all around us. So close that with just a shift in perception, in a certain direction, peace is found.

The horizontal divisions represent transistion or evolution from old thought systems to new ones. A sort of flowering of our consciousness.

-Michael Stanford Foster