Animarii Unzipped No.12: The Dolphin — The One Who Chose Joy on Purpose · Original Oil Painting

Mixed media and oil on gallery canvas · Hand-applied copper metal foil · Genuine crushed blue glass · Micro embellishments · Hand-textured zipper section · 24x36”

Joy is not the absence of depth. It is the proof of it.

The Dolphin has long been understood as one of the most intelligent and emotionally complex beings on the planet — a creature that plays not because it cannot be serious, but because it understands something we often forget: that joy and intelligence are not opposites. They are the same frequency. In this painting mathematical equations float through the deep behind her — the language of the universe rendered visible, surrounding a being who has been fluent in it all along.

She rises through beams of light, jellyfish drifting in her wake, a rainbow breaking at the surface above. Everything in this painting is moving toward something. Everything is reaching upward.

Below, a genuine metal zipper creates the illusion of the world peeling back — frozen at the moment of reveal — deep blue built up in layers beneath the seam, crushed blue glass catching the light at the threshold, copper foil tracing kintsugi lines through the texture, micro embellishments embedded at the seam where the two worlds meet. This is the most materially complex zipper section in the collection, and the most luminous.

Gallery canvas, 1.5” deep, sold unframed. No frame required — deep canvases are designed to hang as they are, though framing is always an option if you prefer. Ships with pre-installed D-rings, heavy-duty picture wire, and wall hook — ready to hang on arrival.

Every original ships hand-signed by the artist and includes a proof of purchase.

Each painting is varnished to order. Please allow 7–10 days for shipping. Contact me for expedited requests.