Poisoned Intimacy
Shinjū – Poisoned Intimacy
In the Japanese Ukiyo-e tradition, shinjū is the tragic act of lovers choosing to burn out together rather than face a slow separation imposed by fate.
This collection explores a modern, personal version of that story. After a period of rebuilding, illness emerges like an internal poison with a ticking clock. He does not share the truth , masking his fate. What follows is a slow, mutual destruction of the relationships — while powerful energy keeps them locked in poisoned intimacy far longer than they should be.
These works are not about being a bad people. They are about how the masks we wear make our choices feel worse in hindsight. The poison is internal, the regret is shared, and the difficulty of removing the masks is real for both people.
The mask of: The lovers who poison their own intimacy yet cannot let go.
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Poisoning Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas · 2015-2025
The poison is revealed from within. After the rebuilding years, he is told he has only months to live. The illness surfaces like a toxin spreading through his body. She is not the source, yet the diagnosis begins to contaminate everything possible between them. The blackening layers trace the first shadows of an ending with a deadline. Desire still burns even as the poison takes hold.
The mask of: The lover carrying death inside himself.
Trapped Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas· 2018-2024
They descend together into their private underworld. The prognosis pulls them both down. Their relationship becomes a shared Hades — intense sexual connection mixed with deepening darkness. They are trapped together by fate and by each other, cycling between moments of raw passion and quiet dread.
The mask of: The couple who enter the underworld still holding on.
The Lure Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas· 2018-2024
Even with death approaching, the pull of desire remains overwhelming. He is drawn into the cycle again and again — fatally, as if it were his last breath. The nymphs represent the physical forces that keeps them clinging to each other , and others even as the relationship slowly drowns. Time is running out, yet they cannot stop reaching.
The mask of: The lover who chooses the beautiful poison.
Without Embrace Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas · 2018-2024
The emotional rupture is complete while their bodies are still close. They lie in the same bed he alone in knowing only months remain, but the space between them grows cold and vast. The physical energy that once bound them has turned painful. No violence — just the quiet refusal to turn toward each other as the end draws near.
The mask of: The lovers who are physically near but emotionally already gone.
The active poisoning of the relationship accelerates. With no time left, they each begin offering the cup — small acts, silences, and withdrawals that kill what remains. Yet the charge between them still crackles in the dark. They destroy their connection while still desperately drinking from it, unable to release before the end.
The mask of: The couple who poison their bond while still craving each other.
Offering the Cup Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas · 2018-2024
Drowning Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas · 2018-2024
The final drowning. As the months counted down, madness, sorrow, and surrender overtake them. Like Ophelia, love becomes a fatal, beautiful current — pulling them both under but not together. The relationship does not end cleanly. It sinks slowly, flowers floating on the surface as the last traces of passion and masked pain disappear beneath the water.
The mask of: The tragic lovers who finally let the current take them.
Thank you for experiencing these works.
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Next Collection → Unmasking Love
Studio visits, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Dark yet hopeful.