The ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ is a work which tries to portray a state of depression. How an individual with depression can have the will to feel better, they can even have a positive life philosophy, however when depression is the room that you live in, the path to feeling better is not so clear. It also speaks about the daily efforts that are made by someone suffering, the efforts which can often feel fruitless, and be invisible to those around them.

The hook and line that the man is holding represents this search. The fish outside the closed window, which he doesn’t seem to be able to see, represents the seemingly unsolvable puzzle of how to feel better again.

The concept for this work was actually born with another painting entitled ‘End Of July’ painted years before this version. (You can see this work in the Australian section of my gallery)