Eruption At Its Peak

Morgan Mandalay & Chris Hammerlein

Info: Volcanoes are a special subject within art history. They are the most strenuous and fascinating motives of plein air painting. Volcanoes reflect emotional states, as much earthly magmatic states. They are beauty and destruction, as well dormant vigilant of many cities in the world, such as Mexico City, Naples, Catania, Auckland, Goma. Morgan Mandalay’s latest volcanoes series, returns to the quest of a painterly motive of the volcano, the use of color and tension. He was inspired by large sessions of plein air painting in California, a place home to many natural forces, among them 20 known volcanoes. Volcanoes are presented at the moment of the explosion, with its electromagnetic charged field. Viewed from the distance, flowers, lemons and birds are the antagonist of the destructive force of nature. Fragility and the ever recurring life meets the magmatic explosion.