Death of a UniverseJune, 1987Copyright © 1997 Property of Deborah K. Fletcher. All rights reserved.
This piece was written as part of a writing seminar at Mount Anthony Union High School, describing a color painting from a magazine. This vivid work is a statement in contrast. It speaks of line and depth. It has an expansive background, with an intensive foreground. This painting is done in violent reds, yellows, and blues, on a black background. The primary focal point is a startling yellow and orange sarburst in the upper left. It has a searing, white center, and it expands through shades of yellow and orange until the orange fades into the black. The starburst has a long tail which tapers from the lower right of the starburst to the center right of the painting. The tip of the tail seems to become lost in a muted explosion of fuscia and purple. The exploding cloud, in turn, has a thin tail which arcs down to just below the center of the painting, tapering to a fiery, white line, which ends in a point of white flame. The flame, which is the center of the secondary focal point, is focused by expanding rings of red cloud, broken in the upper right of the rings by an indigo haze, and joined, each to the others, by bolts of blinding, pink lightning. The entire painting is overlaid by a line matrix, which is distorted at the point of white flame to become a funnel. Strangely, the funnel passes by the spark which seems to draw it inward. The funnel extends toward the lower right of the painting, seeming to reach back into the blackness, yet also seeming to reach toward the viewer. It deepens in hue as it extends, passing through shades from gold to red, pausing at a point of whiteness as it passes through a cloud infested with electricity. Extending back from the funnel, the matrix continues to a horizon beyond the range of vision. It passed beneath the starburst, and is lost in the shadow of a void blackness. Other than the starburst, the space above the matrix seems to be a true void: blackness, unbroken by light or matter. Below the matrix, however, and extending out from the funnel, are tiny flecks of blue-white fire, destroying the perfection of the void. Even the sphere of cloud rings is enveloped in a net of barely perceptible flames. The colours in the painting encompass light, darkness, and spectral extremes. Light is represented in the starburst, and in the golden beams which are reflected from the lines of the matrix nearest the source of the light. Darkness is represented by the utter blackness of the void, and is intensified by the piecing whiteness in the centers of the focal areas. The clouds, and the distant reflections on te matrix, represent spectral extremes. Thus, sharp contrasts are used which ultimately bind the elements of the painting into a cohesive unit. Please View and Sign My Guestbook © 1998-2000 Debbie Fletcher, joiya@tcia.net
|
