Mood #1 is a part of Alvin’s solo exhibition titled In My Head and reflects his intimate and personal journey of living between two places. The artist’s painted landscape is his self or his body, which he finds to be an ideal vehicle for storytelling. Thus, he narrates his experiences of being caught in the middle, in a mantle of his desires, dreams and longings. In this surrealist composition, his body appears to be floating between moments of joy and melancholy. His hand near his face doesn’t seem to reach out or make an attempt to break free through the sombre colours and white hues but rather rests. As an artist living and travelling between London and Singapore, his identity oscillates with feelings of belonging and feeling like the Other. However, given the illusion of movement that comes through in this artwork, the subject is not trying to root himself or give a certain and firm expression to his existence. 

Similarly, as his face approaches the canvas, contained by the frame, the canvas functions as a window. It is as if Alvin looks at the world around him, passing by and not trying to instinctively control his surroundings but rather peacefully surrendering to the situation. Ultimately, the painting reveals the alternate understanding of finding oneself—the reality of which is complex, where identity is not fixed but rather is a process marked with changes and multiple detachments and attachments.