Gulf of Mexico (2021) depicts the bright flames, dubbed the "eye of fire," that erupted from an underwater gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico on July 3, 2021. The leak caused a swirling fire vortex to erupt from the ocean west of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. It took over five hours to extinguish the blaze—a brief yet haunting episode in the ongoing narrative of environmental crises. Tan Mu began painting the Gulf of Mexico the moment she saw the breaking news. By the time the fire was declared extinguished, the piece was complete—an immediate act of documentation reflecting her deep interest in capturing events as they unfold. In an age dominated by rapid digital media, this work reclaims painting’s role as a witness to the present. The urgency of the Gulf of Mexico speaks to the fragile intersection of nature, industry, and disaster. It asks how we process and remember such fleeting yet powerful moments, reminding us that even after the flames fade, their significance endures.

Q: What inspired the creation of Gulf of Mexico?

Tan Mu: This work continues my ongoing focus on immediacy and real time events. The catalyst was the 2021 offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that resulted in a massive fire. I was immediately drawn to the videos circulating on social media, especially the striking collision of water and fire. The imagery revealed multiple layers of conflict embedded in humanity’s attempt to extract and transform energy. The tension between natural forces and human intervention is a recurring theme in my practice. I began painting the same day I encountered the footage, using stills from helicopter videos as reference. The entire painting process lasted only a few hours, and by the time I finished, the news reported that the fire had already been extinguished. This coincidence gave the work a documentary quality, anchoring it to a precise moment in time.

Q: What significance does the oil rig structure hold for you in this painting?

Tan Mu: This is the first time I have fully depicted an oil rig structure in my work, and it carries deep personal resonance. Growing up in Yantai, I often saw offshore natural gas platforms along the coastline. I was fascinated by how these massive structures transported energy through pipelines and altered the spatial relationship between industry and nature. As a freediver, I continue to encounter similar industrial landscapes underwater. On December 29, 2024, while diving off the coast of Curaçao, I surfaced to see a towering offshore structure rising above the sea, sharply contrasting with its intricate underwater presence. That moment reinforced my awareness of how these facilities exist simultaneously above and below the surface, shaping both marine ecosystems and human energy systems. In Gulf of Mexico, the burning oil rig becomes both a crystallization of personal memory and a monument to humanity’s dependence on energy.

Q: Burning scenes appear in several of your works. What does fire symbolize for you?

Tan Mu: Fire is, for me, a symbol of primal energy and the origin of human civilization. In Gulf of Mexico, fire takes on a particularly charged meaning. Industrial flames burning atop open water suggest a fragile balance between human ambition and natural law. This duality is something I return to often. Whether it is the offshore fire in this work or the urban unrest depicted in Philadelphia (2020) and Minneapolis (2020), I am drawn to fire’s instantaneous and destructive force. Fire creates and destroys at the same time. In my paintings, it often becomes a visual language for collective anxiety, social tension, and the volatility of modern life.

Q: How do you view painting as a medium of record in this context?

Tan Mu: I see my paintings as time capsules that preserve specific historical moments. About a year after completing this work, the person responsible for shipping the painting mentioned that he vividly remembered the event. He was Mexican, and the oil spill was a major incident connected to his own lived experience. That moment reinforced my belief in painting as a vessel for collective memory. Beyond being a personal response, the physical presence of the canvas, its weight, thickness, and materiality, pulls viewers back into a precise moment in history. The painting becomes an anchor point that reconnects individual memory with a shared global experience.