Kate Griffin “Stay Awake” acrylic on canvas, 18”H x14”W – $500.00

Stay Awake is an acrylic painting based off of a surrealist magazine collage. The work is a play on the concept of “the red pill or the blue pill” from the 1999 film, The Matrix. In the film, taking the red pill represents waking up to the harsh truths and dark realities of the world you’re in, while taking the blue pill allows you to stay willfully and blissfully ignorant of the world around you. The majority of my works focus on women and women’s issues, and in this piece, I’ve decided to portray a woman who is exhausted, desperate for sleep, yet, she chooses to take the red pill to stay awake to face her reality and the challenges ahead.