Solar Flare

My current body of work investigates solar flares, sun storms and the magnetic forces that they embody. I find it fascinating that the sun is so fragile and enormous and that all living things on our planet so rely on it. This duality and the beautiful violence of the image itself is captivating.

These images began showing up in my work as early as 1996. I originally came across images of solar flares in a 1957 book about weather patterns.

Now, the relevance of their impact is ever more striking on our modern world.  With the advancement of satellite and digital technology, it is possible to observe solar flares more closely and in three dimensions.   Recently, NASA scientists have predicted a peak in the occurrence of solar flares that will bring on a “perfect storm” impacting human life by 2012.

Creating a magma-like texture with molten beeswax and using the fire of a blowtorch for these images of sun storms has created a somewhat coincidental but symbiotic feel to the overall result and process of their making. The work has taken on a new physicality in an attempt to interpret movement and the massive force of solar flares on the sun.

Elise Wagner, 2010

 

Over the years, my work has evolved and come to explore the relationship between science and art.  By combining images found in science and alchemy, I strive to reflect the seemingly illogical and arbitrary order inherent in today’s uncertain world through its many symbols. The texture, depth and complexity of the surfaces of my paintings often represent the great unknown and the celestial, while the scientific symbolism suggests the accurate and the quantifiable.

The foundation of my work often begins with method and materials. Both are incidental towards building a "history" to dig back into, to bury, to add onto or to reveal.  I often work on several paintings simultaneously.  This way of working enables me to detach from the work to some extent, inviting a dialogue or theme to emerge.

Painting for me acts as a metaphor for all that that is unknown, intangible and incomprehensible to us as human beings.  Though my work is driven by content as well as my visualization and nostalgia of science’s attempt towards a definition of order, the anachronism in the work lies in its interpretation and contemporary quality.

Elise Wagner