Heeee! He looks like a marshmallow monkey with a squished face!

Invariably, as one does as one ages in both years and wisdom, one comes across a vision so striking as to confound all that has come before.

This turning point is quite evident here, in Essexjan's submittal for the Essex Township Comments on Life Through Art (currently on show at the Petersford Community Art Centre and Cafe through 15 May).

The viewer is immediately thrown into a garish, gasping milieu of saturated greens and pinks. The usual subtle messaging of growth and innocence normally associated with these tones is subjugated here to a far more suffocating texture.

The weave of the lurid sweater has more prominence than the small head of a bunny who cannot find air enough in the sweater's pocket and clings desperately to life. Indeed, the bunny's nose and face are purposely shot to be as miniscule as the medium allows.

What is Essexjan saying in this piece? Are we all dying of Cute Overload? Can the notions of Newborn Innocence and Awakening be undone by the overt saturation required by our media-drenched, internet-driven societal interface?

One must ask - why a bunny in a pocket? We as viewers are drawn in and yet appalled in the same moment, we realize we both would pet the cute bunny and realize in the same instant it is suffocating by our nostalgic need.