Sunday, December 6, 2009

Raging Barricades - Art


In Raging Barricades, opposite forces are depicted at the moment of collision, darkness and heat meeting at a single, solid line. Heat and fire are represented in the red swath of canvas on one side of the thick, black dividing line at the center of the painting. On the other side, a gray darkness dominates the piece, colliding with the red side in the middle. The thick, dark line of the barricade is the only thing separating the two sections of the painting, and the viewer can immediately feel the tension and the energy of the collision between the opposing forces.

The juxtaposition of the gray and the red is a significant feature of this piece. The gray represents darkness, lifelessness, and death. The color has been extracted from this side of the painting, its existence left dark and gloomy, devoid of all life and all color. The red side of the painting represents heat and life, the warmth of the vibrant color representing energy and light. Life is constantly at war with death, trying to ward it off, though only a thin barricade separates the two, and life can instantly give way to death with the rupture of the barrier.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

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