Trial by Fire V – SOLD

Original Painting by Matt Beard
15″ x 15″
Painted live on Friday, May 7, 2020 with Luca Battistini

BUY NOW: $500  SOLD!

“This wasn’t my first time painting live with Luca Battistini. Back in September I found myself at a beach party in Italy where Luca was playing. Italian artist Vicenzo Ganadu was kind enough to share a canvas with me and we went to town tag-teaming a large panel together. Neither of us spoke enough of the other’s language to communicate verbally, but thankfully art and music is a universal language. The Italian surf community welcomed me into their world with open arms. It was clear that as a culture they held a deep appreciation of art and beauty and life. I was inspired to dig a little deeper before painting this one with Lucas and found myself drawn to the Canticle of the Sun, a poem by St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most influential Italian thinkers, where he speaks of the sun and the wind and fire as brothers, the moon and the water and mother earth herself as sisters. It is a beautiful piece of praise to God that draws us to a deeper connection with the natural world that shapes and sustains us. After 5 paintings of forest fires, I was drawn to the idea of fire as a blessing. As catastrophic as it is when it devours all in its path, fire is also an essential part of our humanity. It protects us from the cold. It transforms raw ingredients into satisfying meals. It powers the forges that shapes our tools. It illuminates the darkest night. Without it we’d be cold and hungry, stumbling about in the dark.

“These were my thoughts back in May, hoping to find some beauty in the hardships we all were (and still are) facing. I hope even now these paintings and idea can bring some encouragement.

“Back in May, though, California was not on fire. Now we’re still locked down with the pandemic and choking in smoke and people we know are losing homes, livelihoods and some of them even their lives. This is a terrible time to live through. I started these live paintings with the fire themes to keep the art ball rolling and to help support musicians while our world burned around us metaphorically, but with these actual fires raging now, it seems better to just donate my portion to help with fire relief instead. Do what you can. That’s all you can do.”

-Matt Beard