Leon Aarts – Road Rage (c. 2012, acrylics on board) For sale

A seismic scream frozen in pigment. Road Rage erupts like a fault line cracking open, jagged geometries of crimson fury and cobalt calm collide in a frenzy that feels both vehicular meltdown and tectonic tantrum. Painted in the raw aftermath of Christchurch's 2011 earthquake, it channels urban apocalypse not as lament but as visceral propulsion: the road as rage-machine, humanity as collateral shrapnel. Aarts, ever the expressionist alchemist, transmutes personal catharsis into communal how, less a traffic jam, more a jammed soul.

Road Rage is Aarts at full throttle, a post-traumatic skid-mark across the canvas of contemporary Kiwi expressionism. It roars where others whisper, distilling disaster's din into a symphony of shards. In his oeuvre, it marks the pivot from introspective masks (2002) to outward eruptions, proving the artist's humility ("a channel," as he quotes Mondrian) belies a voice that shakes foundations.

Score (out of 10): 8.6 A high-octane howl from the rubble, Kandinsky's crash test dummy, careening toward cathartic collision.