Oil painting on a wooden stretcher frame. Includes an MDF wood frame.

80 x 60 cm

Inspired by the confrontation between the whale and Captain Ahab described by Herman Melville, this work explores obsession as a force capable of blurring the lines between victim and pursuer.

The close-up of the whale's eye concentrates a psychological tension where anger ceases to be a fleeting emotion to become a persistent will. The contained gaze suggests an internal struggle fueled by resentment, the desire for confrontation, and the impossibility of letting go of that which causes pain.

The piece reflects on the self-destructive impulses born from obsession: that state in which the individual, even while aware of the damage they are experiencing, continues moving toward their own conflict. In this sense, the whale transcends its condition as an animal to become a symbol of the fixation that consumes thought, paralyzes daily life, and gradually leads to the loss of self.

Moby Dick poses a question about human nature: when obsession becomes the axis of existence, what remains of the person beyond that which they pursue?