The Acrobat

The Acrobat is an allegory about balance and the inner energy that can both create and destroy. A diecast toy acrobat hovers in the air above an unlit bonfire of matches. The bonfire is on the one hand literal, a dormant promise of fire and all the associated dangers, but it is also a metaphor of an 'inner bonfire' of inspiration and energy, waiting to ignite. Action is on pause and expectations abound.  What will become of the acrobat, will he spark the flame, escape the fire, or rise up, phoenix-like from its ashes? 

When painting this, so many associations passed through my mind, of the challenges i have faced and those I have watched others face. There is a therapy of sorts in the evolution of a painting where, focused on one thing for an extended period of time, one manages to exorcise all the thoughts of the moment, weaving them into the tapestry of the subject and releasing them in a way at once abstract but true. 

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The Acrobat, oil on canvas, 60 x 60cm