Earth, Wind and Fire 

Michael Cheval’s ‘Earth, Wind and Fire’ employs oil on canvas to depict a surreal assembly of allegorical figures within a geometrically structured space. The painting’s composition leads the eye through a series of planes defined by alternating squares, creating a dreamlike architecture that challenges conventional perspective. The figures representing the elements—earth, wind, and fire—are rendered in a classical style, yet their arrangement disrupts traditional allegorical presentation. Cheval uses the architectural setting to introduce a semiotic interplay between the natural and the constructed. The archway, adorned with zodiac symbols, suggests a system of meaning that is both ancient and perpetually reinterpreted. The destabilization of fixed meanings is a core element of Cheval's surrealist approach. The painting invites a re-evaluation of how we categorize and understand the elements, prompting us to consider their interconnectedness. The calculated arrangement of forms and figures serves not just as an aesthetic exercise, but as a philosophical inquiry into the nature of symbolism itself.