DNA on Fire: The Burning Code of Transformation

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Size: 4ft x 4ft
Creation Date: 2020
Collection: Ephemeral Atmosphere

DNA on Fire (2020) is part of my Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection, painted during a moment of profound questioning about identity, transformation, and the invisible codes that shape us. This 48 x 48 inch acrylic on canvas ignites these themes into a vivid visual dialogue — a strand of DNA not as scientific blueprint, but as a fiery, living thread of emotion and change.

The painting pulses with layers of molten reds, electric yellows, and vibrant blues, arranged in gestural, spiral-like formations that both reference and distort the iconic double helix. The marks are urgent, layered, and raw, suggesting a code in flux, a system unraveling and rewriting itself.

In this work, I found a kinship with Julie Mehretu, whose monumental abstractions chart chaos, tension, and shifting systems through layered marks and fractured compositions. Like Mehretu, I see abstraction as a way to map the invisible — the systems of biology, culture, and personal narrative that constantly collide and mutate.

DNA on Fire is not about destruction alone. The fire becomes a symbol of renewal, of the possibility inherent in collapse. The painting captures the tension of transformation — the burning away of old narratives, the emergence of something unknown and urgent.

As part of the Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection, this work stands as a metaphor for 2020 itself — a year where the personal and the collective underwent mutations, revealing the fragile, combustible codes beneath our identities.