I’ve long toyed with the idea of making a painting called
‘The Elephant in the Room’ and he seemed to appear almost of his own volition,
perhaps pondering the rules of the game as chess always feels synonymous with the
wars and battles we fight here on Earth. I often feel that our differences would
be better sorted out with chess pieces rather than with weapons. Now we are
also fighting a battle against climate change so here the Bear pits his wits
against Man while outside the forest burns.

The Bear historically represented an aggressive country in
nineteenth century political cartoons.