COSMIC FIRE

Manhattan based artist, Maggie Simonelli works with nature using encaustic technique.* For the past 20 years Maggie Simonelli has been exploring elements in nature both in human nature and the physical earth. Fire being one of the elements that have defined the human condition and nature has been and continues to be a subject of her work.

Simonelli makes her series Cosmic Fire as the allusion to regeneration and unity of all things. The idea of Cosmic Fire points to the moment of transformation, when a star collapsing and explodes as a supernova spreading the elements including gold, copper, silver, arsenic and iron across space. Scattered across the universe the elements recombine to form matter, the matter making up planets and all things. (1)

LEFT : Cosmic Fire, Red #2 (sold) RIGHT : Cosmic Fire, Red #3
both by Maggie Simonelli
Encaustic, 22 kt. gold leaf, 16 kt. pale gold leaf, oxidizing copper & aluminum leaf, CHANEL Passion lipstick, cochineal, cinnabar, and pigments on wood each 8" x 8" x 3/4"

Sacred, ritualistic, symbol of victory, its dye properties kept in secrecy, a signifer of royalty, passion, and sexuality, the color red has had a long history in human creativity and expression. From pigments painted on shamanistic cave wall paintings, decoration of the body, textiles, make-up and medicine, red has been sought after and desired. The color red is found in many materials including minerals, plants, plants and iron oxides. The symbolism of colors of red and golds, passion, fire and the eternal fire of spiritual passion within have been important markers in cultures across the planet. Maggie Simonelli says of her work, “I think of the Fire paintings as the “Passion in the Belly”. Fire, the intense light of the sun, our star or the molten center of the earth, it can erupt, its beauty unleashed can destroy and regenerate." Thus the inner world of the body is reflective of the outer world that of cosmos, the elemental particles created by the explosion of the stars.

LEFT: Cosmic Fire, Red #6 RIGHT: Cosmic Fire, Red #4 (sold) both by Maggie Simonelli
encaustic, 22 kt. gold leaf, 16 kt. pale gold leaf, oxidizing copper & aluminum leaf, CHANEL Passion lipstick, cochineal, cinnabar, and pigments on wood EACH : 20" x 20" x 1 1/2"

Fire as a natural element and a metaphysical constant in history preclude our written history and have informed our mythological and religious stories and beliefs. In Greek philosophy primordial Fire is natural symbol of single substance of which was believed to give rise to all the elements . Heraclitus (c. 535 – c. 475 BCE) considered fire to be the most fundamental of all elements. He believed fire gave rise to the other three elements: "All things are an interchange for fire, and fire for all things, just like goods for gold and gold for goods." (2) Fire as regenerative as the fiery molten earth burns upward through the sea and cooled to earth and air.

This world, which is the same for all, no one of gods or men has made. But it always was and will be: an ever-living fire, with measures of it kindling, and measures going out. (3)

Visceral and experiential, Simonelli's monochrome paintings slowly reveal a richness of colors - poppy, garnet, cochineal, cinnabar, and deep dark reds. Layers unfold as the light flickers on the golds, silver, and oxidizing copper leaf that lie beneath the surface. As if the light is trapped inside and radiates outward, the viewer becomes engulfed in the fire. The Cosmic Fire paintings are created with handmade paints using cosmetic grade beeswax. Combining hand-drawn + carved metal leaf (including 22 kt. and 16 kt. gold leaf, copper, and aluminum leafs within the many layers of wax. Simonelli constructs the flames with interlace details by carving into the surface of the wax using carving tools. The paint is made at the same time as the painting --very low-tech using beeswax with traditional historical pigments in addition to cosmetics (CHANEL lipstick + Pat McGrath Lab eye shadows). The result is a beautiful lush surface, bright colors, and illuminating light of the flame.

Cosmic Fire, Red #9 & #10 by Maggie Simonelli
Encaustic, 22 kt. gold & 16 kt. pale gold leaf, oxidizing copper & aluminum leaf, Pat McGrath Labs Rose Decadence Mothership series eye shadow, carmine neccarat, cinnabar & pigments on wood each 8" x 8" x 1" (both sold)

Simonelli says: “Choosing the materials to represent this subject, I had to direct myself towards western art history. I imagined the heart of the flame, choosing 24 kt gold, 16 kt pale gold and cinnabar, cochineal and the most beautiful reds became the “elements” that could describe fire as both material and intellect. The physical beauty of the heart of the fire represented by the red crackling in the flame of the gold. In paintings from Late Middle ages, Mary Magdelene often wears a red robe. (Lippo and Frederico Memmi. Mary Magdalene Siena c. 1325 Avgnon Musee de Petit Palais, France). (4) The red robe becomes a symbol both of her spiritual devotion and her sexuality as a former prostitute. The sacred red of devotion and the forbidden desire of passion. This paradox also occurs in the beauty industry. Makeup applied as decoration, an accessory used to create desire at different times in history was looked at as a sin in the eyes of the religion in particular the Catholic church and currents of fashion. Thus women's sexuality, devotion and sacred power though natural, as natural as elements created by stars, can be perceived to be forbidden or dangerous. The paradox of the human condition continues in its search of divinity and passion bond by power of nature and concepts of society.”

COSMIC FIRE, BLUE

LEFT: Cosmic Fire, blue #2 RIGHT: Cosmic Fire, #1 (sold)
encaustic, 22 kt. gold leaf, 16 kt. pale gold leaf, oxidizing copper & aluminum leaf, CHANEL Passion lipstick, cochineal, cinnabar, and pigments on wood b\each Each 20" x 20" x 1 1/2"

* Encaustic is an ancient painting technique originally used by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. During her graduate studies, Maggie Simonelli developed her own technique based on comprehensive research for MFA and MS, Art History in Museum Studies, Materials, Techniques, and Conservation.

1 Finlay, Victoria. Brilliant History of Color in Art, Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2014, pg.15.
2 & 3 Freeman, Kathleen, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983, pg. 198.
4 Pasteroureau, Michael translated by Jody Gladding. Red The History of a Color, Princeton and Oxford: Princetown University Press. 2017, pg 29.