Andy Stahl –
From a chance photo at a lunch, one time in London …
My first painting of 2026, was my first entry to the Royal Academy of arts summer exhibition,the biggest open art event in the world. This is a promise I made to my uncle and also a very personal painting for me.
Oil on canvas, size 19.5″x29.5″
‘From Shadow to Light’
This painting is a quiet confession.
I am suspended on a swing, caught between two worlds — darkness behind me, light and joy ahead, naked, free from masking and armour. The swing represents instability: the constant motion between fear and hope, collapse and recovery. There is no solid ground beneath my feet, only momentum and trust.
The darkness is not evil; it is familiar. It holds anxiety, exhaustion, and the weight of thoughts that return again and again. The light, by contrast, is not certainty. It is fragile, tentative, and earned through movement rather than arrival.
My fragility is not hidden here. It is central. The swing could stop at any moment. I could fall backward or forward. Yet I continue to move.
This work is about mental health not as a destination, but as a process — the courage it takes to keep swinging, even when the body trembles, even when the light feels far away.
Hope, in this painting, is not loud.
It is simply the choice to keep going.
