Vestige, study
30" X 40" oil on canvas Available from the studio For information ... Contact us The back label writing ... Little physical evidence remains of the first humans to inhabit North America. Thousands of years ago they crossed the frozen Bering Sea that separates Asia from North America. Working their way south they settled all along the lush but harsh coast of British Columbia. Searching for shelter and food. Not just shelter from the elements, but shelter from each other and their waring nature, brought on by sheer survival. An abundance of wood was what they had at hand. With tools of stone, shell and bone these hearty people literally carved settlements right out of the rainforest. That wood has long since returned to the earth, but the bone, shell and stone remains to this day. Ancient petroglyphs, like the one painted here, still dot the coastline. This half-human, half-fish being is evidence of a mythology celebrating the union of their land based existence with the ocean that sustained them. Writing has long been a integral part of Mark Heine's creative process. In the pursuit of his original artistic voice, Mark's writing has evolved to become the driving force behind his work and has led him to envision a world of his own creation. Sirens, the culmination of 44 years exploration, is inspired by the sea-nymphs, made famous in Homer's Odyssey. These underwater visions of mythological muse are rooted in the moments of an ongoing and developing fictional narrative. This complex narrative, involving human evolution and our natural environment, is the unifying conceptual thread that ties these surreal visions. |
