"Like 'The Burden of the Responsible Man,' this is a very autobiographical piece. I just didn’t know how I could balance another thing in my life, and then, bingo, this idea came into my head. Life is a balance between fun and work, spiritual qualities, education, nutrition … our lives are continuously balancing acts. Of course, some of us make it a little more complex by putting our only balancing foot on the back of a moving turtle. Why are there three clocks in the image? Because we’re always balancing time.

"There are many specific symbols in the image. Most of them are far from obscure, but the little neat secrets include a king statue, the symbol of the omnipresence of politics and government. The skull is a spring hare skull, with a little label that reads “spring hare – lost race.” It’s a joke, but it also symbolizes mortality. The owl and the pussycat represent marriage, which is a major balancing act. The Latin in the image means 'Equilibrium (balance) is to be desired.'; In other words, as long as you remain upright, you’re okay.

"Those are just a few things, but everything here means something. What do they mean to you?" - James Christensen