As we continue to collate artwork from the top talent in the Dallas art scene, we are excited to welcome back Forrest Gearheard to ALG Fine Art. He took part in our Visiting Artists Show last year with his piece “Sunshine and Sparkles” and is now showing us more of his creative vision with “Ascension and a Smoldering Heart.”
Meet Forrest Gearheard
Forrest has been an artist his whole life, sketching since childhood. He now explores various media but holds a particular affinity for oil painting. With a brush in his hand, he can explore themes that matter to him and reflect his personal and historical observations of war, conflict, and military history.
In his artwork, you’ll notice Forrest uses visual dissonance to expose the cycles and patterns of the human condition. The resulting sense of confusion and displacement mirrors the psychological “fog” of war. By avoiding references to specific time periods, the work resonates with many people and the different conflicts we experience throughout our lives.
Meet “Ascension and a Smoldering Heart”
In “Ascension and a Smoldering Heart,” you can see a vase of flowers within both a physical and metaphorical pit of hell. It’s placed upon a sharp-edged red marble slab, representing rupture and emotional extremity. This itself is a sharp contrast to the organic, fragile flowers above. The flowers are mostly bowed or withdrawn, embodying grief, exhaustion, and loss. Although one flower rises closer to the rim to show survival.
There are multiple sources of symbolism in this powerful piece. Butterflies introduce fleeting moments of relational support. The angelic form behind the vase signals emergence rather than rescue. Skulls receding into the darkness beneath the angel ground transcendence in mortality rather than escape. Of course, you cannot ignore the symbolism of the smoldering heart at the edge of the slab on a precarious plate. Separated from the body, damaged yet alive, it becomes the work’s ethical center. Despite everything, it still beats.
If you feel moved by this piece, appreciate it in its entirety by seeing it in person. “Ascension and a Smoldering Heart” is on display in the gallery now, among other artworks from Visiting and Resident Artists. See the world in a fresh light and find a piece to add to your collection by visiting ALG Fine Art during our usual opening hours of Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm.
