Region 45s 80e

Creative Rationale

Over the Southern Ocean, southeast of the Kerguelen Islands in the subantarctic waters between Africa and Antarctica, moderate westerly winds drive across the vast oceanic expanse under relatively stable atmospheric pressure. The cold temperature with its surprising positive anomaly suggests a complex thermal boundary, while the moderate humidity and absence of precipitation create conditions for clear but dynamic skies. I interpret this through de Kooning's aggressive gestural language - the 12.6 m/s winds become diagonal slashing strokes cutting across the canvas, the cold temperature drives a palette dominated by greys and blacks with flashes of flesh pink where the thermal anomaly breaks through, and the stable pressure creates areas where violent marks compress against solid color fields, allowing glimpses of the underlying canvas to show through the painted assault.