The Legend Of Okjökull: Study
The Legend Of Okjökull: Study No.1, oil on canvas, 12 x 24 inches
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. September 14, 1986
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. August 1, 2019
There is often an underlying meaning in my paintings. This subtext is driven by formal elements such as color, line, texture, and shape. However, in this instance I directly reference an anatomical structure of our planet’s surface. A structure that is being erased; the Okjökull. This is a preliminary study for a larger 6 x 10 foot version of the painting.
The Okjökull was a glacier in Iceland northeast of Reykjavik. Over the past several decades the glacier has been subjected to warming summers. This once iconic glacier has melted away and now less than one square kilometer remains. In 2018 a memorial was held atop its remains. This painting remembers the former glacier and is based on a September 14, 1986 arial photograph. I use formal elements to transform the arial view of the glacier into a monument and sign of warning. Color is used to impart meaning and feeling into the image. The glacier is painted in purples because it is a color associated with nobility, dignity, grandeur, and magic. Yellow on the other hand is a color of contradictions. It suggests happiness, positivity, and loyalty. But it is also a sign of instability, caution, and sickness.
Just this past week the US Federal Government and EPA suspended enforcement of public health and environmental protection laws. Gina McCarthy, currently president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called this action “an open license to pollute.” Furthermore, the US Government announced today that it would be rolling back Obama-era clean car rules. The change will allow for 1bn more tones of CO2, which experts say will lead to more life-threatening air pollution. All of this is of course taking place amidst the devastation of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Legend Of Okjökull (work in progress), oil on canvas, 6 x 10 feet
As of today my work on the 6 x 10 foot canvas has been suspended. The painting is at my University of Oklahoma (OU) studio, where I am working on my MFA. The university is currently shutdown as a result of COVID-19 panemic. In the meantime I am starting a new series of paintings at my home studio. I’m considering beginning work on additional Okjökull studies that could result in a second large canvas. I hope to be back in my OU MFA Studio this summer. This is the last picture that I have of the painting’s progress, which from late February. It’s a lot further along than I have documented.