This work went through several phases until reaching its final form in 2018. As with many other works, it started with filling the canvas by testing different materials and it was largely the spontaneous nature of this process that determined the path that should follow. At a certain point, its configuration led to some ideas taking shape and the core idea that stood out was that what was emerging was related to the memory of the terrible fires that in 2017 devastated the central region of Portugal where we have one of our studios of work.
The execution of this work lasted for about ten months and gradually took shape, at the same time that other works dealing with the same idea were also emerging. These works have in common the representation of black trees, a stylized representation of flames and sometimes a dark silhouette in the shape of a house framed with elements that resemble stairs. The surrounding of cold lines evokes a lunar landscape that could be the result of the catastrophic "Aftermath" of those fires that left the land devastated and barren in the foreground. The general sense is that of a chaotic footprint resulting from the passage of the incendiary vortex.
The rough texture of the painting is a distinctive element that partly reveals the long execution process and the many layers that were added over time, a skin that tells the story of the work that was naturally hidden or aging that is a a legitimate term for the maturation process of an idea that presents itself every day to be transformed a little more. In 2017 I witnessed the destruction of thousands of hectares by the scourge of fire. These infernal images were etched in my memory and although I don't think about it I often know that the impact will last and will inevitably transpire in many ways, every time it manifests itself I let the theme run and I try to keep in mind that this catastrophe must be remembered because its impact is rooted in a far more worrying and far-reaching evil that is the climate change our planet is going through.
At that time we saw this tragedy up close. What remained was an immense field of ash, a violent mark of this poignant process of destruction, but almost immediately, as soon as the rainy season began, a slow but inexorable process of regeneration began to take shape. Little by little, nature recovered its former splendor, feeding on the ashes and creating a new landscape. The fire marks faded but the tragic moment was not erased from memory and this changed forever the way the landscape came to be seen because despite being regenerated and green, every time I enjoyed all those colors and the ongoing vitality, a shadow always persisted, the notion that what had already happened more than once would repeat itself again. Nothing that could now be enjoyed would be safe from further drama and with global warming, the lack of rainwater and the abandonment of the increasingly chaotic and fuel-laden forest, it would be more than certain that next time we could still expect worse consequences and the natural question was how long would nature hold, how long would the trees grow again. One of the visible consequences of successive fires was the general lack of old trees, throughout the territory, in an extension of many square kilometers it was almost impossible to find a tree that was more than fifteen years old which meant that the landscape had regenerated but not it had kept its history and that is why what now existed was a faint image of what the region could be like if, over the last few decades, it had not been devastated by successive fires.
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