A sense of belonging.  We grow up seeking it.  From the start, we are a part of our family, but as we grow and mature, we look outside of those familiar faces to find our community.  For some, it happens quickly and remains unchanged, for others it fluctuates with time and seasons and the search is a longer, more arduous effort.  These paintings by Ian McClean seem to be manifestations of that feeling of being on the outside, trying to find your way in or perhaps, deciding whether you’d like to go in at all.

 

We all know what it’s like, that dissatisfaction with where you are but the uncertainty of exactly where you belong.  In younger years, it seems easy to find “our people”, circumstances often do it for us.  But as we move through life and decide for ourselves where and how we spend our time, finding where we belong becomes more of a challenge.  To a certain extent we’ll all feel like a square peg in a round hole, maybe forever.  Could that be so that we’ll never get too comfortable?

To see more of Ian McLean‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.