48" x 36" Acrylic, oil pastel, and graphite on canvas
Nigredo is the blackening. The first stage of the alchemical work, where the material has to break down before it can become anything.
Rust and iron red sit across the upper half over grey-blue, worked in blocks and scraped through. Below them the canvas goes black and stays black. A blue tower stands in it, rungs drawn up its length, and the word rocket is written in chalk at its base. Pink drips fall through the dark from the heat above.
Nothing here has transformed yet. The painting stops at the stage where everything is still material.
Sober, structural, and dark. The strongest work in the studio for a room that can carry weight.
