Concentration

Compositionally, the demon enters from the upper right on a steep diagonal.

Below, the trees mass into a tribunal. The trees are lush but strangely weightless.

Between them lies an unoccupied field of pale gray.

The serpent loops through the creature’s hands like a leash. The demon may be restraining it or refusing to let go.

The palette divides the scene into muted flesh, charcoal, and botanical green.

There is a friction between the figure’s ferocious iconography and its concentration. That fact may be the serpent, or desire, or merely the obligation to continue holding what one has already grasped.