Red Fish. Leonard Koscianski, 64″x46″, oil on canvas, 2003.
Red Fish is a large painting in oils on canvas. Very dreamlike and surreal it depicts a large red fish plunging back into blue water. It is the moment before the fish enters the water, it is suspended above it’s own reflection. This dramatic night scene has a tranquil suburban background. This dream may be happening in the backyard of our own minds. The fish appears to be contemplating its own image. In symbolic terms, the fish may represent the self, and the pool of water, the subconscious mind. Elements, sometimes scary, emerge from the subconscious, into the clear air of the conscious realm, then plunge back into the subconscious and disappear for a time. The red color may stand for heat or passion lurking in the cool depths. The point is that on a symbolic level, this may be happening to us now, in our own lives.