Archie Russell

The inspiration for my workpiece was ‘Forest Fire’ By Raden Saleh (1849). Raden Saleh is regarded as one of the most influential artists from Java. What really struck me about this certain piece of his was the clear message that it spoke. It is powerfully narrated by the mix of dark and bold colours blended together, that really creates a sense of chaos that was really brought to life with his powerful use of light and darkness.

I think that still almost 200 years later, it proves its message more than ever, especially with the rising number of wildfires across the globe. The number 4, that I used on my own artwork, references the 3rd digit in the year of which it was made. The 3, on my piece, is contributed to the person who Raden Saleh gave his artwork to, King William the Third of the Netherlands. And the last number on my piece, I took from the century from which it was made, the 19th century, of which I used the 9. The Japanese motif on my piece translates to Gojira, who is very much linked to fire and chaos, which is why I chose it for this piece.

The log motif at the bottom of the page links to the squares made in a flame-like pattern, which reminded me of bonfire-night and the large bonfires that my father made. The colours that I used for the squares became progressively lighter in tone, with small bright yellow squares dotted around the piece to symbolise the embers given off. I used blue mixed with a red tone for the numbers and motifs, because it stood out boldly from the background of the piece, and the red gave the effect of it being lit from the background fire.​