Diaspora 2016

Bo Bartlett painted this surreal scene of figures standing on a rock with some kind of fire behind them, its all in a kind of dreamlike illustrative style. The fire is my favorite part, the way it's both literally fire, but also seems to function like a stream of liquid light. I wonder if he started with the figures or the fire, and how one influenced the other? Does the fire light the figures, or are they the source of the fire? You know, painting is like entering into a conversation with all the artists that came before. It’s an exchange of ideas and techniques across time. Here, I feel like Bartlett is reaching back to the old masters, but adding his own contemporary spin. It’s a bit melancholic, but also strangely comforting. Like maybe we’re all just trying to figure things out together, one brushstroke at a time.