Comprising pigment and urethane paint on canvas, Barnaby Furnas’ Untitled (Red Tide) is a hypnotic example of his red ‘flood’ paintings. Drawing inspiration from the history of abstraction – from Morris Louis’ pouring techniques to Robert Smithson’s tar spillages and his own origins as a graffiti artist – Furnas’ tidal waves of red and black paint collide to create a mesmerizing field of motion and colour. Suggestive of apocalyptic disaster and the natural sublime in equal measure, the works evoke a wealth of associations: from rivers of blood to glowing sunsets to the Biblical parting of the Red Sea – an acknowledged source of inspiration for Furnas. ‘Lately I have taken them a step further, past red, past blood, into black and darkness’, the artist explains. ‘First I make a red flood painting, then I cover it or destroy it with a black flood – sort of like turning off the lights on the idea of the end’ (B. Furnas in conversation with C. Dunham, in S. M. Monim, Barnaby Furnas, New York 2009, p. 151).