Desert Ice
2021
Info
Title: Desert Ice
Year: 2021
Size: 76 cm wide X 56 cm high
Technique: Acrylic On Canvas
Description:
This allegorical painting depicts a harsh desert-like world comprised of only rock, sun and sky. Incongruously, blocks of ice in red, white and blue, the national colours of many countries, trap creatures in a snap-frozen state in a landscape that is itself flag-like.
Yet as ice has no natural place in the desert, the entombed creatures are breaking free of the ice.
Blown in the sky is the red curve of a humanoid figure, suggesting the recent arrival of organized society. The snake-like heads at each end suggest danger.
Evolutionary impermanence is indicated by the bleeding of the sky into the brown desert, and by the green curve rising to the sun.
This evolving curve is cause for optimism as it connects with the ascending balloon, filled with the promise of new ideas. The artist’s palette resting on the curve suggests that a better future can be envisaged.