Fire

Fire
2008 - 11"x12", Mixed media on wood
Price: $300US
www.ErikVP.com

Even after doing this summary, my thoughts about the meaning of this painting remain fragmented. I can explain some of the random thoughts that inspired the painting along with the symbolisms. When I am creating a painting, I just create. It's not until after the painting is done that I try to unravel what it's about.

- On 9/11/08, I walked by a fire station near my apartment and saw a bunch of firemen returning from the ceremony at ground zero. Some of the symbolisms related to 9/11 include, the red firehouse & ladder, arabic type graffiti on the mountains, fire, red smoke in the sky, the twin towers symbolized by the two trees on top of the pink mountain, with the right one beginning to fall, the four floating pyramids symbolizing the twin towers, Pentagon & United flight#93

- The walking fish has been in a few previous paintings, although this is the first fire breathing fish. There's sort of a life & death theme since both the walking fish and the ankh can represent life, yet the fire, floating ankhs & pyramids represent death.

- The white, black, blue, and red water drops falling from the sky onto the fire-breathing fish could represent the cycle of life and death. They could also be thought of as war and conflict, or "good" vs "evil" between the United States(red/white/blue) and Middle East (black).

- I recently read, "Basquiat - A Quick Killing In Art", and remember thinking a lot about the similarities between Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jimi Hendrix including how both died early in their careers due to their loosing struggles with drugs. The fire-breathing fish is my favorite part of the painting. "Fire" is one of my favorite Hendrix songs, so that inspired the title.

Many of my paintings include the sun, but it's a little less obvious in this painting. It's the black & white sun on a stick to the right of the yellow mountain. It's more of an American indian sun god than a traditional sun.

You will notice I have both colored pencil and pastel pencil listed in the ingredients. The M&M flowers at the base of the mountains are pastel pencil. The pastel pencils are softer and have more friction between the painted wood and the pencil lead, so you get a better buildup of color. I tried using the colored pencils first, but they looked dull. The outlines of the moutains are colored pencils, and this works because it's directly on unpainted wood. The pastel pencils are delicate and smear easily. A sprayed varnish needs to be applied very lightly.