September 11 was a shock. In the beginning Bert Ernie had no idea that he would want to pursue abstract painting with any seriousness; so he just tried his hand at it on the reverse side of his photorealist paintings. After a few paintings like this Bert switched to using a unique support for his abstract paintings.
Looking back Bert realises that painting this marked a turning point for me when it came to his understanding of the power of art.
Bert realised that the photorealist genre he had invested heavily in – was almost useless at expressing powerful emotions, concepts and ideas.
Bert came to understand that even if he painted the most incredible photograph from that day – it would be absolutely pointless.
So Bert embarked on a journey as an abstract painter as well as continuing to create photorealist works of art for the types of subject where it was suitable to do so.
Dimensions: 62x91cm
Painted: 2001
Materials: Acrylic on MDF board
Private collection
The story behind September 11
The second totally abstract painting that I ever did was in response to the horrific events of September 11, 2001. It was started a few hours after the buildings fell and took about two days of intense work to complete. I painted furiously to capture my emotions – which were very intense.
At the time, I was primarily a photorealist painter – but only days before I had just finished my first abstract work of art. I realized there was real power in expressing emotion. I was feeling the horror very intensely of the terrorist attack – I wanted to show that disgust, shock, and horror that I felt.
One of the ideas behind this work is that I wanted to have juxtaposed beauty with ugliness. The beautiful, dynamic, and colorful background – which represents the happiness of all those people who were killed in the attack – has a final red layer – which is a singular and ugly contrast. On top, the red paint runs; it pools it reaches every part of the painting – it symbolizes the loss of life.
Those people were taken from their friends and families in an obscene act of violence. The painting’s subject is an incredibly challenging one. I hope I have done justice to the victims. And I also hope I have conveyed a sense of my anger at the senseless loss of life.
Bert Ernie
Detail views of abstract painting September 11
