Atmospheric Oil Paintings by Martin Wittfooth Illuminate Nature's Timeless Cycles

"In large-scale, elaborate oil paintings of powerful, glowing creatures, Martin Wittfooth explores the timeless cycles and forces of nature in a celebration of the sublime. Known for his enigmatic and atmospheric depictions of wild animals in dystopian settings, the artist blends traditional European painting techniques with critical contemporary concerns surrounding the human impact on the environment. Wittfooth's new solo exhibition, Deus Ex Terra at Corey Helford Gallery, features 19 new oil paintings on canvas, linen, or wood panels."

"Some take the form of tondos 18 to 24 inches in diameter, while others assume vast proportions, like "Duel," a diptych that spans 12 feet wide. The stallion also appears as a regular embodiment of elemental forces, like in "Aspect of Fire" or "Aspect of Air," in which silhouettes of powerful horses made of molten rock or clouds of steam rear up into towering positions. The show's title, Deux Ex Terra, loosely translates to "god out of the earth.""

""The Hermetic maxim, 'As above, so below; As within, so without,' has echoed through centuries of philosophical, mystical, and artistic inquiry," the gallery says. "In Deus ex Terra, this principle serves as a guiding thread, illuminating the ways nature repeats its patterns across scale and time: in the branching of rivers and the veins of leaves, in the spiral of galaxies and the coiling of shells, in the cyclical turning of seasons and the rhythms of breat"

Martin Wittfooth creates large-scale, elaborate oil paintings of powerful, glowing creatures that evoke timeless natural cycles and the sublime. The works merge traditional European painting techniques with contemporary concerns about human impact on the environment. The solo exhibition Deus Ex Terra at Corey Helford Gallery presents 19 new oil paintings on canvas, linen, and wood panels, ranging from 18- to 24-inch tondos to monumental pieces such as the 12-foot-wide diptych 'Duel.' Recurring stallion figures embody elemental forces in works like 'Aspect of Fire' and 'Aspect of Air,' appearing as molten-rock and steam-made silhouettes. The exhibition title translates to 'god out of the earth' and frames nature's cyclical, self-sustaining rhythms under the Hermetic maxim.

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