The Fire of Heaven

The Fire of Heaven presents the work of Enrique Martínez Celaya in conversation with the life and work of the influential twentieth-century California poet Robinson Jeffers. Despite existing in different lifetimes, Jeffers' approach to life as art and his reverence for the natural beauty of the California coastline inextricably link the uncompromising poet to Celaya. The artist's multi-faceted practice explores the map of a territory shaped by self, memory, ideations of home, exile, myth, and identity. His practice presumes art should be an ethical effort that aims to understand better and be engaged with the world and ourselves. Beyond these threads of commonality, Celaya draws from specific Jeffers' writings, such as the 1928 poem The Summit Redwood, which serves as the exhibition's namesake and describes "the fire from heaven" as a force untamed and ignited at whim. Celaya's work created during his stay at the poet's landmark home in Carmel-by-the-Sea is complemented by Jeffers' handwritten poems, notes, and photographs.

ENRIQUE MARTINEZ CELAYA (*1964) was born in Cuba, grew up in Spain and Puerto Rico. He came to the U.S. to study science, and not until the late stages of his doctoral research in physics did he turn fully to art. His monumental and multi-faceted body of work connects art to literature, philosophy, and science. The painter, sculptor, and writer is living in Los Angeles.