This painting came out of an earlier print and a type of snake I like a lot. I found the concept of ‘playing dead’— the drama (see video at right) and subterfuge—seemed to resonate with the impossibility and threat of the white leather boots. I wanted it to be a physically illegible scene. Is this person falling? Where are their knees? Who are the snakes displaying for? Where have the other pair got to? I wanted it to be a little sinister but not without a certain amount of glee.