Meine Bitterkeit 

Troy Brooks’ painting presents a woman, cigarette in hand, seated on a staircase, enveloped in the colors of disquiet. The smoke, rising like a specter, echoes motifs of transience. The act of smoking itself, once a symbol of sophistication, now carries a melancholic air, a marker of time passing and perhaps a contemplation of mortality. Think of Hamlet holding Yorick’s skull, a memento mori urging reflection on life's brevity. This symbol has crossed time, reappearing in vanitas paintings of the Dutch Golden Age as a reminder of life's fleeting nature, much like our smoker and her ephemeral puffs. The cigarette is a contemporary skull, laden with psychological weight. Her seated pose, contemplative, mirrors that of Melancholia, embodying the introspection and inertia associated with deep thought. The woman’s gaze draws us into a psychological space, a powerful connection that transcends time. In this way, Brooks taps into the wellspring of human emotion, stirring subconscious memories. As the smoke dissipates, it leaves us contemplating the enduring power of symbols, their cyclical journey through the ages.