This painting began as a snapshot—a figure posing inside the Chambers Hotel ballroom, modeling clothing for a fashion line. That moment, casual and spontaneous, was the spark that led to the artist’s first major Minneapolis exhibition. What started as a one-night photo shoot became a pop-up show, which then became a month-long takeover of one of the city's most iconic former galleries.

In the upper right, we see a shadowed figure—one of SHOCK’s friends, captured on that first night. In the foreground, a neon green form glows over him: part spirit, part self, part myth. The green figure feels Christ-like, spectral, radiating. His posture suggests offering, burden, or birth. A character from the artist’s shadow, breaking through the surface.

Two Figures carries a sense of labor, duality, and rebirth. One figure reaches outward. One leans back into shadow. They may be working. They may be merging. They may be the same.

This painting evolved over many stages—built, destroyed, reworked, found again. SHOCK paints in layers of memory and time. Some works travel with him, unfinished for months or years. This final version was completed post-vault, after the reclamation of his studio at 2010 Hennepin. It stands as one of the most charged and painterly works in this period: intuitive, mythic, and open.

What should the viewer feel when standing in front of this painting?
Recognition. Tension. Radiance. A sense that something is both appearing and vanishing at once.