Sean Mellor, Artist

I’m starting work on a new piece, a cryptic triptych on large canvases, 5′ x 4′. I’m beginning with some initial sketches, and the piece has a working title: *Descent of a Man*. I’m specifically looking at the psychology and mental health of men, particularly men of Generation X. As one of them, I’m very aware that we have a strong tendency not to seek help for mental health problems, but instead to self-medicate with over-the-counter drugs, alcohol, substances, painkillers, or by throwing ourselves into work—essentially avoiding the real issues. I believe this is often rooted in a belief, common among men of my age, that “big boys don’t cry,” that you should “put up or shut up,” and in rigid ideas of what a “real man” is or should be—what a real man is supposed to do, not feel. We’re told not to talk about our feelings, and this hasn’t really changed in the last 30 years, especially in the North East where I live. In some ways, this follows on from my recent exploration of the so‑called “manosphere” and the red‑pill influences that are often considered toxic or outright evil—figures like Andrew Tate and others. I believe we are witnessing an explosion of hate, violence, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, sexism, and other forms of intolerance, including the resurgence of fascism, which I once naively thought we had left behind in the 1980s. All of these are deeply harmful to men’s mental health and general well‑being, and I’m going to explore these tensions and contradictions in this triptych, depicting the descent from normality and the crushing expectations of what it is to be a man.