ArtistsAsActivists

Of In its depiction of Los Angelians partying the night away while a rwildfire rages just over the hill, orof does it reference the boradoer imlication of climate cnange deniers as weell as those who figure "conserving power in my home m y plastic water bottle couldn't possibly make a difference so why bother?"In a reference to the story of Nero playing the Fiddle/Flute while Rome was burning Mermaid" 

from Medium.com "Narrative painting in Los Angeles" Carl Dobsky’s Birds of Paradise, 2016, oil on linen, 60 x 84”, of all the outstanding works in this engaging show, most clearly has the dark side of life in LA as its theme. Here a wild pool party is filled with white, privileged, partygoers who carouse, drink (there is literally a Dionysian male figure seen head thrown back, about to ingest grapes), take selfies, network, make deals, smoke and overeat with glee and wild abandon while LA burns brightly in the hills behind them. Nero fiddled while Rome burned too, and the rash of the destructive fires in recent history make this image metaphorically, historically and sadly accurate.