​R. E. SANCHEZ
Fine Art

INTO THE FIRE

 

It is an understatement to say that fire has played a crucial role in the shaping of humanity.  We now know that this fragile planet in which we travel was formed long ago by an enormous amount of energy.  Throughout its tumultuous beginning the earth was a boiling mass of energy that slowly began to cool down.  With time, this engulfing fire gave way to the birth of the biodiversity we see today. Fire can be either destruction or creation depending on the observer but if one were able to look back to the beginning of time with clear and educated reasoning one could therefore conclude that fire is a form of creation in its quintessential form.

 

Anthropology shows us that our ancestors elaborated their everyday life based on the necessity of fire.  With it, man was able to keep warm during the long winters in order to survive.  Fire was essential for man to be able to transform nourishment and give variety to his diet, grow stronger and evolve.  In short, fire has transformed the savage and dark world of the past into the modern, confortable and luminous world of today.  One can easily say that without fire, modern man would have never seen the light of day.

 

I have always admired the flickering dance of fire when viewed nearby but this series of paintings based on fire is not just a visual exercise.  It is also a metaphor for the story of love and hate.  The paintings are a visual narrative of the billions of stories that are lived out everyday in the four corners of the planet.  This is the fire of love and passion, but it is also the fire of treason and madness.  It is a game between good and evil but more importantly it is a criticism viewed from very near by.