THE BASS

"Bit the hook once.
Never again.
This is my retirement."

— THE BASS —

He's been down there a long time. Long enough to have seen every lure, every tactic, every guy in a hat who thinks today is the day.

It is not today. It was not any day. It will not be.

He bit once. Early on, before he knew better. The whole thing — the tug, the panic, the very undignified journey upward. He thought about it for a long time afterwards. Made some decisions. Rearranged his priorities. Now he watches the hook sink past him with the energy of someone reading a menu at a restaurant they've already decided to leave.

This is not bitterness. This is a retirement plan, and it's going extremely well.

— FROM THE ARTIST —

I wanted to paint the specific face of an animal who has genuinely stopped being surprised by anything. That jaw. That eye. The way he just floats there like he's already read the ending. The gold outline was an accident I kept because it looked like he'd earned it.