Flood

Flood
Oil
20"x20"

“Carry The Fire”

Existential wonder & rising tides. It is important to me to have some element of imperilment and tension in my images as the girl is perched isolated on a chair like an indoor island. She lights her way with a short-lived sparkler , yet her attention is on her own shadow.

The title of the show stems from my strong resonance to Cormac McCarthy’s, “The Road” . In this novel he refers to “carrying the fire”, a phrase used by survivors to convey dogged perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds, and also a metaphor of basic human decency.

Phrases and imagery such as this are symbolic when they imply something more than their obvious and immediate meaning. To “carry the fire” has a wide subconscious aspect that is never precisely or fully explained, yet it is compelling nonetheless.

This notion serves me as a creative stimulus and motivation, a guiding light, if you will. My hunger to create imagery in paint is an undefined want, and it must be satisfied. Until the want is satisfied, it is difficult to know the nature of the problem.

My thinking has always been associative, and I like to let the viewer make associations. I would love to have the painting act as a Rorschach, stimulating the viewer’s vital role in the creation of meaning. In this regard, I feel more akin to poetry. Poetry is an awareness of the world, a particular way of relating to reality. They become the participants.

It’s important to have the viewer participate, that way they engage with me. Thereby, I hope to sustain the experience, generate response, and to move beyond the callous and superficial technical abilities. I am not interested in a painting proclaiming: “I was here” , so much as one stirring thought, narrative and questions.

Share