Combust
2009, Oil on Herringbone Linen
38 x 48 inches, unframed
In some spiritual traditions fire is used for purification, to release that which no longer serves us. The figure, set up to spend the night out in nature gazes into the fire. He is transfixed by the flames. What he prepares to place into the fire is a piece of himself. He enters a state of being in which there is no difference between inside and outside. The light, smoke, and sparks of the fire envelope him.