EMMA FIELDEN
Crucible
Lapis lazuli, oil, silverpoint, manganese and gesso on linen63 x 73cm
$7200
Lapis lazuli, oil, silver and manganese converge in a crucible of transformation. In this painting, two orbs press against the surface, reaching outward: one thick with lapis, the other drawn in densely reflective silverpoint. Both lie submerged beneath a veil of lapis glaze, where finely ground pigment mingles with rocky particles. The surface holds these forces in suspension as the orbs resist and echo one another: darkness absorbing, blue radiating, silver veiled faintly beneath.
A crucible is a vessel: a chamber of heat and pressure, where matter alters yet persists. 'Crucible' is not an image but a site of containment and transformation, a field where stone becomes colour, metal becomes trace, and pigment becomes a veil. ‘Crucible’ embodies compression rather than release, holding within it the tension of transformation — a stillness charged with the possibility of change.
A crucible is a vessel: a chamber of heat and pressure, where matter alters yet persists. 'Crucible' is not an image but a site of containment and transformation, a field where stone becomes colour, metal becomes trace, and pigment becomes a veil. ‘Crucible’ embodies compression rather than release, holding within it the tension of transformation — a stillness charged with the possibility of change.