“I like stuff that blows up, so that’s what I paint.”
“Granite Fire II” wasn’t created from scratch for the MOD! series. It was a rework of an existing painting that I had completed ten years earlier. I should have taken a photo of the earlier state before the rework but I was lax in my documentation duties. I do have the 10×10 color sketch, however, which I will display below for comparison.
The larger 36″x36″ Granite Fire didn’t completely capture the innocence and the simplicity of the sketch, so it was ripe for rework. The stark, drab, grey background needed more excitement. The orange swath, while interesting, wasn’t bright enough for MOD!, and it, too, needed enhancement. The lonely brown framework reminded me of a dead tree so it needed some life injected into it. I really liked the large white smear near the center of the piece, as it felt like the paint was cascading down the surface, so I left it alone.
I wanted to explore some Gridularity (technical term I just made up) so I put it everywhere. Why not? I built a latticework of squares emerging out of the heart of the fire. I tried to emulate multiple colorful stone paths on the left-hand side of the composition. The net result is an almost obnoxious bombardment of shape and colors. For viewers who prefer subtle nuance and delicate tonal balances, this piece is not for them. It is loud, bombastic, and pretty much punches the viewer in the face.
The title of the piece reflects well my intention to juxtapose granite, an earth element, with fire, a not earth element. I suppose when granite is heated to a molten state one could say it’s on fire, but I really didn’t think the title through that far. I just thought it sounded cool, or hot as the case may be.
While Granite Fire II may not have been a purebred member of the MOD! series, I made sure to make the rework’s colors similar to those used in the paintings that came before it. Whether or not it rightly belongs in the series is hard to say, but I’m saying it does, so that is pretty much that, right?
