Separation Anxiety

By: Richard III

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Dimensions: 16in x 20in

Year: 2018

Status: Private Collection / Available

Separation Anxiety : Unconsecrated Cohabitation

Separation Anxiety serves as a stark visual map of the emotional and spiritual distance between two souls, capturing the paradox of the Hollow once the light is finally turned on. This is the visual realization of the moment the honeymoon phase ends, where you are no longer frolicking aimlessly through the woods but are instead confronted with the rigid, cold architecture of a reality built without a foundation. The monolithic, stepped structure segments the canvas to illustrate the internal distance felt within a relationship once the initial fog of romance clears and the structural instability of the bond is revealed.

The positioning of the figures exposes the Unsanctified Mirror—the labor of reaching for a spiritual High Heaven that remains elusive in actual life while observing another who appears to occupy a higher plane of attainment. Though both silhouettes stand adjacent to doorways of light, the physical gap remains absolute; they exist within the same construct but inhabit entirely different planes of reality. This vertical isolation highlights the exhaustion of a spirit trying to ascend a structure that offers no common ground.

The palette is a deliberate study in the scarring and sealing of a spiritual journey. The vibrant pink facades represent the romanticizing of the void—the aesthetic of a grace captured in art that was not yet realized in the personal narrative. This is set against the deep, textured purple of the Hollow, reflecting the era of unconsecrated cohabitation, where young love existed without the protection of a covenant. In this state of romantic sin, two people recognized the same darkness in one another and glorified it until the light revealed the true distance between them. Ultimately, the work stands as a testament to the Sealed State, documenting a relationship that has become a shared experience of Separation Anxiety—not the fear of being apart, but the sobering anxiety of being together while spiritually and emotionally disconnected.