“ バランス – Baransu” by Chris Mejia (acrylic Apple Barrel paints, pencil, sharpie markers)

Chris says about his pieces this year, “All of these pieces were created before quarantine, or even Covid, was a thing; but they got their real meaning after experiencing these dramatic changes in our lives.”

Inspiration: Baransu, or balance in English, was inspired because of a really troubling time during my life. There was too much going on between personal problems, school, and mental health. There was basically a big mess in my head and I didn’t know how to sort it out. The true meaning of this piece came during quarantine. The world was going into total chaos, the country fell into a big schism, and life got even messier than I could’ve thought. The painting shows two Koi fish, which are native to China but are more often associated with Japan, circling around each other in total balance. Koi fish are usually used to represent just that, the balance of the world, the Yin and Yang. So I named it “Balance” in Japanese, “Baransu”. I would see the painting as a form of manifestation, that soon the world would find balance and peace.

Fun fact: This painting was used for Mrs. Urban’s second-semester biology book cover, with some minor changes to accommodate it to be related to biology class. But since covid hit, there wasn’t much time for us to use them.