Thoughts on the variety of contentious pipeline infrastructure and other building projects that have filled news reports lately became, for me, the genesis of this painting. Primordial landscape imagery is perceivable in the background as the painting's first layer. Abundant greenery and pools of water are suggested as a bright light is filtered through the humid atmosphere. This is the landscape that the settler/investor/developer seizes and claims to “own”. Pride of ownership then necessitates an inventory of natural resources which that investor must exploit in order to maximize ROI. Next will come built systems and logical pathways through a seemingly (to us) haphazard and capricious environment - that is, the natural world. Humans have done this throughout our history and continue to do so, even as pristine landscape has essentially disappeared. The grid pattern, the regular geometry of shapes and the stamp of the human by the inclusion of writing symbols are the painting’s layers that show the choice to "develop" that of which ownership is claimed.
Is this painting a critique of an unsustainable and ultimately foolish way of life, or is this a reflection on the human's improvement and development of resources over which it is believed there is ownership and oversight? Do you remember where there were unspoiled natural places that have since been developed? What do you think has been gained, and what has been lost?
© Daniel Hendricksen
