The Price of the Light tells a story of temptation made more complicated by awareness.
Two mermaids occupy different depths of an underwater world. One remains below among the rocks, while the other rises toward a mysterious light at the surface. In one hand, the ascending mermaid holds a large fishing hook attached to the line above. With the other, she points toward the light.
She is not unaware of the danger. She holds it in her own hand.
That distinction lies at the heart of the painting. The light can represent hope, ambition, love, faith, knowledge, freedom, success, or simply the irresistible promise of something beyond the world we already know. The hook represents the price that may accompany it.
The mermaid below provides a counterpoint. She remains in the safety of the known while the other is drawn upward toward possibility and consequence.
The Price of the Light is ultimately about the choices we make when desire and awareness exist simultaneously. Sometimes we recognize the hook perfectly well and still find ourselves staring toward the light.
The question is not simply whether the light is worth pursuing.
It is whether we understand what it may cost us to reach it.
Original artwork by Michael J. Thomas for Khaos Art Studios.
