Gail Potocki

“I know of no other artist who wields insight, emotion, and intellectual heft—not to mention gorgeous technique—to examine the environmental ills besetting us today. Gail Potocki‘s landscapes are catastrophes unfolding before our eyes—in the sea, in the air, and on the land. Yet her human subjects, shattered and vulnerable, are creatures of exquisite hope… precisely because of their melancholic awareness of their plight. I asked Gail to tell me about each of these paintings. Of Icarus (above), she wrote:

‘Influenced by Icarus ignoring his father’s warning and flying too close to the sun; I saw similarities in this myth with nature’s warnings of our own possible self-destructiveness. In the case of Icarus here, his wings have been stolen from the dead bird that he has slung over his shoulder.’

—from Mother Jones

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Creative Culture, Nature, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.