Fire

F. Scott Hess

Fire is 3 a.m. in my Hours of the Day series. When shown at the Orange County Museum of Art, it was perhaps the most popular of the cycle, with drama, beauty, and that stab of swimming pool blue countering the hot flames. Posed by my eldest daughter, the little girl stares up at the destruction of her home with a look of awe. Silhouetted against the turquoise of the neighbor’s pool is her hand, tentatively reaching forward. Across from it, the shriveled remnants of a rose shy away from the heat.

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Sarah Perry

One of the ways I measure how much a piece affects me is how often I think of it down the road. This one keeps returning. Very powerful!

May 12, 2010

F. Scott Hess

Didn’t you folks out in Acton have a recent scare with the Station Fire? No wonder you think about it. One of the inspirations for the piece was our annual SoCal fire season. There is always drama, human terror and suffering, and an oddly beautiful display of mother nature keeping things in check.

May 12, 2010

mydogsarelazy

Hi Scott, do you think that in any way this painting may connect with the experiences of your wife and her family in Iran and afterwards? JS

April 13, 2010

F. Scott Hess

No. If anything, it is our yearly fires here in LA. You see these images of people who have lost every thing, and others who pack their car with favored belongings. As a homeowner and involuntary pack-rat, the idea of losing everything in a fire is sometimes appealing.

April 13, 2010

Judy Helfer

Lovely! and the eldest daughter is now at Columbia University! Judy Helfer

April 12, 2010

F. Scott Hess

Yes, Judy, and doing very well, though any equating with the Mother of Jesus was lost long ago!

April 13, 2010

Serena

I really love how you have taken something horrifying and made it beautiful.

April 12, 2010

F. Scott Hess

Merci, Madam Muse!

April 12, 2010

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F. Scott Hess

The folks who own it live in a penthouse in NYC. It is interesting to see it juxtaposed against their view of the New York skyline, looking straight out the window towards the area of town where the twin towers used to be,,,

April 13, 2010