J’Adoube — French for “I adjust” — is a six-piece series that moves through the full hierarchy of the chessboard, from Pawn to King, tracing a journey from darkness into light. The title borrows from the chess convention of deliberate touch: a piece adjusted before the move is made. Each painting in the series reflects that same intentionality — a mark placed with purpose, a form held in tension between control and release. Working across a tonal spectrum from deep charcoal to warm rose, the series maps the panther — recurring, shifting, sometimes inverted — against grounds that evolve with each piece. Together, the six works form a complete visual sentence: a meditation on power, position, and the quiet act of choosing where to stand.
