Fire Island Sunset 2004

Curator: Jacob Collins’ 2004 painting, "Fire Island Sunset," renders a fleeting moment with incredible depth. Look at how he uses oil paint, capturing light and atmosphere in this plein-air landscape. Editor: It’s definitely moody, almost melancholic. The muted palette evokes that quiet stillness as the day slips away. There's something both familiar and otherworldly in it, too. Curator: Collins works within a lineage of realist and romantic landscape painting, so it’s compelling to consider this choice of Fire Island, of all places. Historically, it's been both a natural sanctuary and, increasingly, a site reshaped by consumption. I am wondering about that kind of context as informing Collins' vision? Editor: That interplay you point to comes across well with his method. Collins seemingly applies traditional techniques--plein air work, brush strokes capturing details of water and flora, careful handling of tonal shifts at dusk -- while dealing with complex negotiations between preservation and exploitation of landscape through recreational or developmental demands. Curator: Exactly. And that sunset itself -- that’s no passive act of witnessing; it's about the labor involved. You can imagine Collins outside painting this as quickly as possible, and the conditions impact his art making in that fleeting moment, so in some ways Collins uses labor to bring beauty forward in his paintings. Editor: I think that focus and care shine through beautifully in the rendering. The subtle shimmer on the water and the backlit glow coming through trees demonstrates such delicate precision—there's an attention given even towards elements typically considered "minor" compared with a human figure. All this evokes our dependence on something so temporal or ethereal. Curator: Perhaps the romance here emerges less from nostalgia and more from a charged engagement with what it means to witness a transforming landscape. The painting’s subtle glow kindles that emotional resonance in those who have been to places like this before. Editor: Well, I never thought about a landscape carrying such potent themes! It really makes you reconsider your relationship with similar sights... Thank you. Curator: Absolutely. Let's hope people who see it here at our gallery take inspiration and start reflecting similarly regarding themselves within the artwork and surroundings displayed to them today and in the future!