SIZE: 48” X 60”

Title: Concrete Ritual

Artist: SLEEZ

Medium: Aerosol, Acrylic, Ink

Surface: Stretched Canvas

Dimensions: 48in x 60in

Year Created: 2025

Originality: One-of-One (No Prints or Replicas Exist)

Condition: Excellent

Narrative Backstory & Artistic Significance

Theme: Trance, Protection, Identity, and Empowered Insecurity

Backstory:

“This isn’t a mask — it’s a mirror.”

Concrete Ritual was born in a trance — a zone where thought shuts off and instinct takes the wheel. Hours disappeared in layers of gray, black, and fire-orange. No plan, no sketch — just rhythm, motion, and raw emotion pouring out. What emerged wasn’t meant to look beautiful… it was meant to reveal.

This figure is both armor and altar. It stands as a protector, not of the artist, but of the fragile self that hides underneath. Its warped features — the swollen flesh, chipped silver hoop earrings, distorted facial structure and lips — aren’t designed to intimidate. They’re exaggerated reflections of everything we try to hide: self-doubt, rage, shame, sadness. But instead of tucking those flaws away, this creature wears them proudly, like war paint.

The glowing eyes aren’t alive — they’re windows into the soul’s panic. Exposed. Judged. Still standing.

The repeated SLEEZ tags, scratched like prayers onto flesh and wall, aren’t just branding. They’re affirmations. Marks left during the trance to remind me: This is me. Ugly. Beautiful. All of it.

The piece whispers, “What if your insecurities were actually the most unforgettable parts of you?”

It took years to realize that the things I wanted to hide — the imperfections, the overthinking, the brokenness — are the very things that made my work feel alive. So this beast isn’t just a character. It’s a version of me I can finally show the world without apology.

The ritual isn’t just in the painting — it’s in becoming whole enough to wear the chaos on the outside, and still move through the world like it’s a crown.

⸻

Notable Features:

• Glow-effect eyes (symbolic, not literal luminescence)

• Stylized graffiti-tag overlays throughout

• Signature in lower-right corner (digitized handstyle)

• Heavy urban influence, no sketching or preplanning — trance-driven creation