"A place to be" (200x150cm, oil on canvas, 2025).

A vast expanse of deep blue jungle unfolds toward the horizon, its dense foliage yielding to a distant treeline where the sky glows with a delicate pink—an evocative remnant of day’s final light. This is no impenetrable wilderness; rather, the forest’s edge remains discernible, its blue-hued palms standing as sentinels between earth and sky.

Suspended at the heart of the composition, a resplendent chandelier casts its cool, azure glow over the scene, its presence both surreal and commanding. Below, its light dances upon the surface of a tranquil pond, doubling the illusion and deepening the mystery.

“A Place to Be” extends Virtosu’s ongoing exploration of jungle motifs, a series in which the artist interrogates themes of solitude and abandonment through the lens of a vivid, dreamlike landscape. The work’s tension lies in its juxtaposition of lush vitality and quiet desolation, inviting viewers to linger in its enigmatic beauty.

This painting was a centerpiece of Virtosu’s March 2026 solo exhibition at Le Camion in Roubaix, a city in northern France.