The Great Thirst

Artist: Veronique Le Merre

Title: The Great Thirst 

Media:  oil and pastels on canvas

Dimensions: 36 "x 48" 

Date: 2011

Veronique Le Merre doesn't state much in her about me on her website or on the Fine Art America website. All I know about Veronique Le Merre is that "she was born and raised in France...[and] received an education in art history at Sorbonne University, in Paris."

She states that she had the idea of painting The Great Thirst after a trip to Guatemala where a whole abandoned city had been swallowed up as a jungle.  Veronique Le Merre asks the question "so what if we are gone?"

I chose to use The Great Thirst as part of my exhibition because of the symbolism I interpret from the painting. A recent study showed that most of the emission of greenhouse gases (the ones contributing to the increase of temperature) come from oil, gas, and coal companies. If we don't stop polluting our planet it might become inhabitable and so we might perish. The inanimate objects would stay-such as the gas pumps. I hope this painting serves as a wake up call to everyone who does not take climate change serious. This painting brings up many questions for discussion. Will future generations have to pay the price for our inaction and live in a few restricted areas? How fast would the planet recover without us? can we live harmonious with the planet again? Can we stop gas, oil, and coal companies from ruining our planet? These are all questions I would hope this painting would place in people's heads. 

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-great-thirst-veronique-le-merre.html