In the Pink Half-Light

SOLD

30” x 40”

Oil, oil pastel, acrylic, and gouache on panel

Set in a foreground inspired by Arizona’s otherworldly Arcosanti, this painting considers a future wherein more of our time must be spent indoors. A hypothetical wildfire burns in the distance, barely visible through the circular window of the structure. The light throughout has a tint of pink – the product of photons filtered through smoke, the effect having its typical impact of creating eerily beautiful conditions despite the sinister cause. The presence of Arcosanti and wildfire in the same scene seem somewhat opposed given the Cosanti community’s aim of sustainable living within a sanctuary of arcology (the group’s invented term that merges architecture and ecology), presumably a kind of antidote to the modern problems like climate change-induced wildfire. But alas – nobody is immune. In this kind of future, perhaps the best we can do is design spaces that prominently feature the outdoor world we wish to return to while simultaneously propping up the values the Arcosanti community have built into their way of life. The chess set represents the strategic game we must play to avoid this future, while the title was adapted from a line in the classic novel Watership Down that refers to “the green half-light” of morning, perhaps a foreshadowing to the event that forced the lapine protagonists to flee their beloved home land.