"Martin Wittfooth has long been recognized for his ability to fuse classical painting traditions with urgent contemporary themes. His latest exhibition, Deus Ex Terra, opening at Los Angeles ' Corey Helford Gallery, brings this balance to new heights through nineteen large-scale oil works that confront the sublime power of nature. The collection continues Wittfooth's exploration of wild animals as symbols of resilience and transcendence, placing them within dystopian or elemental settings that speak to both timeless cycles and the modern ecological crisis."
"The title Deus Ex Terra loosely translates as "god out of the earth," a deliberate inversion of the ancient phrase deus ex machina. Where classical theater introduced a god through mechanical means to resolve narrative conflict, Wittfooth situates divinity in the cyclical forces of the planet itself: weather, orbit, water, and seasonal change. By doing so, he redirects attention away from human-centered solutions toward the rhythms of the earth, reminding viewers that nature continues to sustain itself despite humanity's disruptions."
Deus Ex Terra comprises nineteen large-scale oil paintings that confront the sublime power of nature. The works range from intimate eighteen-inch tondos to sweeping canvases that occupy entire walls, including Duel, a twelve-foot-wide diptych staging a monumental confrontation. Wild animals function as symbols of resilience and transcendence within dystopian and elemental settings. Horses recur as embodiments of elemental energy in pieces like Aspect of Fire and Aspect of Air, sometimes sculpted from molten rock or formed from clouds of steam. The title translates as "god out of the earth," inverting deus ex machina to locate divinity in weather, orbit, water, and seasonal cycles. The series redirects focus from human-centered solutions toward planetary rhythms and nature's capacity to sustain itself despite human disruptions.
Read at stupidDOPE | Est. 2008
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]