Distress 

Michael C. Hayes created this artwork, "Distress," using painting techniques that capture profound emotional turmoil. The composition is dominated by the grotesque distortion of a face, with hands pressing against the eyes as if trying to ward off a terrifying sight. The artist employs a somber palette, with the flesh tones appearing sickly and pale against a black background, thus enhancing the feeling of unease. The texture of the skin is rendered with great detail. It conveys a sense of physical and psychological strain. The face itself becomes a landscape of anguish, marked by handprints and a tattoo, suggesting deeper layers of identity and conflict. A figure clinging to the head, could represent external forces or internal demons that exacerbate the man's distress. The tension between representation and abstraction is at play here, and prompts us to question the nature of perception, reality, and the human condition. "Distress" invites us to consider how art can destabilize our understanding of fixed states of being, instead offering a fluid and dynamic interpretation of mental anguish.