At the beginning of 2021, in the thick of the Delta variant, it was clear that the pandemic was a scary threat, and it was here to stay. The whole world was mired in lockdowns. The skies and the roads were quiet and office buildings and factories were shuttered. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for news of a vaccine which was to save us all. In the meantime, hospitals were stressed beyond their capabilities and the elderly and the medically compromised were passing away in huge numbers.

For artists, and for me personally, the pandemic didn’t seem to be as much of a threat. Spending time alone in my studio is what I ordinarily do, so isolating from the world wasn’t such a stretch.

In February 2021, I started a series of thirteen paintings which I titled Florentines. Being the kind of dreamy optimist that I am, I decided to take the Corona Virus motif, so commonly displayed everywhere in the media, and somehow turn it into something attractive, a floral design. The perfectly round disc shape of the RNA virus surrounded by the petal-like spike proteins were too beautiful to ignore and not to equate to all the colourful blooms we’re familiar with. This was my kind of redemption – that the pandemic must also have its silver lining.

In March 2021, I started a second series of twelve paintings I called Cabin Jitters. We’re all familiar with cabin fever around the end of winter in Canada when humans and animals alike start breaking out, anticipating spring. Once again with cautious optimism, I painted tropes of animals, trees and cabins in auspicious settings. I intentionally used a dark palette with hints of light and animated the animals in restless and foreshadowed gestures. The last two works of this group are kinetic. having a slow continuous rotational movement like the second hand on a clock, mimicking the slow drag of time when time stands still.

In April 2021, I concluded that we were then in a timeless waiting game mode. Everyone was impatiently waiting for the vaccines to arrive or for the scourge to disappear. Thus started the third and final series aptly titled Waiting. These dozen paintings display an array of chairs, sofas as well as my ubiquitous cabin with various species loitering among these props.

At the end of 2022 this body of work was selected for this exhibition at the AGB, scheduled for April 2024. I decided to invert the original title and change it from a question to a statement: Yet There We Are!  I feel this affirmation describes the present situation which clearly confirms that the pandemic is behind us, but the after effects linger.