Easel and Me: painting of the week

I often fall in love – mainly with paintings but sometimes with songs…. This week, I’m in love with this painting.

 

I’m intrigued by its redness, its heat and the discombobulated landscape. Where are they going, I ask myself – where are they leaving to, those people walking away? Their world is burning and melting and turning to pitch. Brigg holds our attention with those figures – he pulls the image back from being utterly disturbing by the pace at which his figures are leaving. They aren’t running or fleeing in desperation – they are just walking away and I am spellbound by their whimsy.

This element makes this work powerful – without the figures this would be just another ‘Untitled’ piece.

It’s one of a series of works based on forced human migration according to Brigg’s website. You can read more about it here. He also has a series about arrival, but its the Exodus paintings that I want to look at.

Mel Brigg is represented by Wentworth Galleries, Sydney.