For his second extraordinary exhibition at the Hood Museum in Hanover, New Hampshire, artist Enrique Martínez Celaya has chosen to present interconnected works that explore emotion, growth, reality and renewal. It’s a project he contemplated for over a decade, and its impact is palpable.
“The Grief of Almost” draws upon the visual elements and symbolism of apple trees, night and the tension between fire and ice. For example, a large and commanding painting of an apple tree symbolizes the cycle of growth, decay and renewal which serves for the artist as a metaphor for the choices we make and the consequences of those choices. The contrast between fire and ice helps visualize the extremes of human emotion, and “the dualities of existence.” Night is represented by the sculpture of a black, windowless airplane suspended from the ceiling near the apple tree. It explores the themes of separation and loss.
Martínez Celaya explained that his exhibition of four large paintings and the sculpted airplane “is concerned with the innate drive for self-realization and the search for — and obstacles to — a meaningful life.” The artist searches for meaning in his own life as well as in his work, often inspired by poets and writers, most prominently, Robert Frost.