Original Oil on Paper by Geoffrey C. Smith, 2024
36"w x 24"h
 
A brown bear moves across scorched earth, its form glowing with heat and tension. The background pulses with reds, oranges, and molten gold - pained in thick palette knife strokes that feel more like flame than landscape. This is not a peaceful scene. It's a portrait of survival.
 
Bear in Fire is part of my World on Fire series, which reflects the collision between strength and vulnerability in a rapidly warming world. Bears are powerful, adaptable, and deeply tied to seasonal rhythms - but even they are feeling the pressure. Drying berry crops, shifting salmon runs, rising temperatures. Everything is changing.
 
This bear was painted mid-stride - muscular, grounded, and alert. He isn't charging or retreating. He simply moves forward through a landscape that no longer offers the same shelter or certainty. That posture reflects what this series is about: survival under strain. A presence caught in the heat of a world it didn't create and cannot escape.
 
World on Fire Solo Exhibit 2025