Michael Sastre
Artist Statement: The Rafters
An exodus occurs---quick and stealthy—escaping from want to visions of plenty. Remnants of a jerry-rigged craft, tires lashed together with rope, bits of clothing stretched over the gaping holes to provide some separation between human and the elements, float upon the vast expanse of sea. The makeshift craft faces the uncertain violence of the ocean and weather. Among the opportunists who stalk the seas, seagulls and sharks are attracted to the detritus of a voyage undertaken. In these paintings, the lack of a human presence pays homage to the passion of the human spirit.
In the mosaics, the sea presents its bounty. The raft morphs into a round paella dish, a nature morte, in which the predators have become prey, and the human passion becomes one of joie de vivre, of plenty and the hearth that one comes home to after a long journey.