The Burning River

This is new piece I did over the weekend and have a timelapse of it coming as well. The piece is called "The Burning River."

The title and idea of the piece comes from myth, as pretty much everything I do does these days. The "burning river" refers to a few things...first the idea of the river you cross in death...paying the boatman to ship you to the afterlife...the second is the thought of burning as desire. A river moving toward something greater...Third, the idea of the river in general. Not as a literal river, but more as an action, the constant flow. The movement.

All of those separately and combined add to the piece, for me creating the idea of desire, searching, and pilgrimage to find said desire. It becomes a piece that symbolizes that which we are striving for...that which we are seeking to obtain. There are many things that could be...many things that could represent...but I thought the idea of that is something very interesting.

To me, I see a few things...I see the mass of colors as a mass of people, surging toward something. The "burning river" being the people as they all push toward their goal, their desire...the second thing I see is the story of crossing the river to the afterlife. I see these both connecting as well...almost seeing this surge of people, this desire they have as payment to get where they want. The way to reach the "other side" is to carry out this desire to get there. It almost takes on a very "pilgrimage" type subject matter...a mass of people seeking the same thing in order to make themselves "worthy" of their goal...They pay the toll by experiencing the pain of desire...

I guess, in a simple sense, it's about earning what you want and the decision as to whether you deserve it or not. You pay the toll to cross the river, you pay a price to obtain your desires.

"Weigh your worth before her majesty, the burning river."