Art: Fire on the Mountain: Genesis Chapman’s Flaming Indictment of Environmental Destruction

Let’s talk about fire. Not the cozy, marshmallow-toasting kind, but the kind that devours forests, leaves the land charred like an overcooked steak, and serves as a handy visual metaphor for corporate greed setting nature ablaze. Enter Genesis Chapman, an artist with a bone to pick and a paintbrush dipped in righteous fury. His Fire on the Mountain series isn’t just art—it’s a searing (pun very much intended) indictment of how we humans, in our infinite wisdom, keep letting Big Oil and Gas treat the land like a disposable napkin.

Chapman, a Bent Mountain native, had the great misfortune of watching a pipeline get rammed through the land he grew up on. That’s enough to make anyone reach for a flamethrower—or, in his case, a bottle of ink. His work, a mix of intricate detail and chaotic energy, captures the stark beauty of destruction: flames licking up tree trunks, smoldering embers where life once thrived, and the eerie stillness of a world caught mid-incineration. It’s art that doesn’t just say “this is bad”—it grabs you by the collar and demands, “ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?”

Historically, artists have always had something to say about the environment. The Hudson River School painted sweeping landscapes that celebrated untouched nature. The Romantics waxed poetic about the sublime, a fancy way of saying “this mountain is terrifying, but also, wow.” But Chapman’s work is more in line with the modern reality: this mountain was sublime, and now it’s the setting for an explosion you’d expect in a Michael Bay movie. Instead of passively admiring nature, he forces us to confront the damage done in the name of “progress.”

And let’s be honest—fire is an old-school metaphor for destruction, but also for transformation. What rises from these ashes? That depends on whether we keep letting energy conglomerates treat rural America like their personal Monopoly board. Chapman’s work is both a warning and a requiem, a beautiful depiction of a terrible thing.

So here’s the real question: If we saw the world burning, would we grab a bucket of water or a camera for Instagram?

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