Waves of Golden Fire 1999

Curator: This is Eyvind Earle’s "Waves of Golden Fire," created in 1999 using acrylic paint. The tree feels incredibly vibrant. How do you read this work? Editor: The painting bursts with energy! All these contrasting colours applied to what looks like a majestic, towering tree... what specifically about the materials and process do you find interesting? Curator: The application of acrylic is fascinating here, isn't it? The layers seem deliberately built to give a sense of depth and richness – that interplay between opacity and transparency. Considering the time of its making, in 1999, can you see how Earle may be consciously responding to and pushing against the boundaries of what landscape painting and art is perceived to be at that time? Editor: Absolutely! The choice of acrylic allows for those brilliant, almost unreal colours. What sort of labour goes into creating a work with that level of detail and layered colour? I imagine that impacts how it was viewed then. Curator: Precisely. This wasn’t a quickly dashed-off impression. There’s evidence of planning, deliberate layering, even an almost craft-like attention to detail. It prompts us to consider Earle’s social positioning within the art market. How might that have affected its reception? Did his prior association with animation, particularly Disney, have an effect? Editor: That's a perspective shift for me – thinking about the artist’s background affecting audience perception. His commercial experience perhaps enabled, or limited, his freedom as an artist? Curator: Precisely! Thinking about art not as just aesthetic objects, but commodities shaped by these complex forces changes the way you look. How consumption, labor, material, all meet. Editor: I will keep that in mind going forward, it's fascinating how many directions this perspective opens up! Thank you!