"Why make art if there isn’t going to be a civilization to receive it? One has to ask because the evidence is clear: the Anthropocene (our current geological epoch, brought on by humans tampering with the planet’s chemistry) has initiated a sixth great nction. Humans are steadily generating the conditions that have already eliminated 50 – 90% or more of all life on earth five times in the planet’s history. As a result, Homo sapiens faces an unraveling biosphere and widespread societal disruption. It is the most serious problem in human history," writes artist, Christopher Volpe.

He painted “Event Horizon” I and II primarily with hardware-store roofing tar, a noxious by-product of fossil fuel production. The paintings were inspired by media photographs of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, also called the BP oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2010, an explosion on the BP rig led to the largest marine oil spill in history, with an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil killing wildlife and destroying marine habitats on Louisiana’s coast alone. He also painted the companion piece “Plume” primarily in tar. Intended to evoke air, water, and light in tar, “Plume” is informed by scientific documentation of increasing amounts of Arctic methane, a deadlier greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, escaping from undersea permafrost as the northern oceans warm.

Volpe’s work has received the Saint Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist and Nellie Taft awards as well as fellowships and grants from MassMoCA/Assets for Artists, the NH State Council on the Arts and the NH Humanities Council. View more of his work at www.christophervolpe.com