The world can be a scary place, but you can always find comfort in the sweet things in life. In Sun Shine Side, Johnny Romeo takes us on a vibrant, candy coloured trip through 1960’s Pop Art, reminding us that life’s problems can always be solved with a simple lollipop. The painting ingeniously re-appropriates the quintessential heroine of Roy Lichtenstein’s painting ‘The Nurse’ (1964, the same year as Magritte’s ‘Son of Man’) as a beautiful but forlorn modern woman seeking solace through sugar. Romeo slyly removes the original nurse’s cap, instead inserting a lollipop into the woman’s hand as she stares anxiously over her shoulder at something unknown unfolding beyond the canvas. There is a simmering look of fear in the woman’s eyes that lends Sun Shine Side a palpable sense of drama and suspense, which is bolstered by the painting’s hyper-saturated, fever dream colour palette. While we cannot see the source of the woman’s alarm, we can infer from Lichtenstein’s own fascination with tragic romances that she is witnessing her relationship fall apart before her very eyes. The lollipop, small as it may be, acts as a lifeline for the shocked woman, a singular source of solace at a time when the world as she knows it is crumbling around her. It also acts as a cheekily subtle nod to Surrealism and Salvador Dali, who designed the iconic logo for the popular Spanish confectionary brand Chupa Chops.  Read in this light, the word assemblage ‘Be Thunderous Wondrous’ is a declaration of resilience from the woman that she will not be consumed by the ‘thunderous’ rage of her break-up but instead find happiness in the ‘wonder’ of simply being herself. Romeo continues to ride this Poptimistic wave through the shimmering positivity of the title Sun Shine Side, a powerful affirmation that even in our darkest moments we can find hope by staring into sunlight and embracing the brighter side to life.