About the artwork:
My recent pencil artwork titled ‘The Gym’ is a kind of pseudo-landscape piece, it shows a deep, dark room where the equipment and furniture can be barely made out. The reference image was taken late one night in December 2022, the room is actually a teaching gym, with exercise equipment, treadmills, lecture chairs, mobility cranes and a hoist. I was exploring the empty hallways of a rehabilitation hospital's clinical teaching rooms, during a long admission for a chronic health condition. The light was off inside the gym, but there was one light on in the hallway. The paneled ceiling with fluorescent lights, linoleum floors and handrail-lined halls created a whole different type of lonely delirium. I chose the color of violet-blue to use as the monochrome tone, the darkness would serve the idea well, and the shades would be more distinguishable than if I did it with a red or purple. The view of the room is from a lower point, as I was sitting in a wheelchair, it also imparts the one point perspective drawing the eyes to the back, and darkest part of the room. With this piece, I just wanted to visualise this built landscape realistically, with only an elementary facet of self expression. 
- Rika 'MARLEE' (artist)