Airs of Freedom 3
Artist: Rosana Auqué
Year: 2024
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 36 × 48 inches
Price: USD $5,000
Air of Freedom No. 3 is an oil on canvas created in 2024 by Rosana Auqué, measuring 36 × 48 inches. The work belongs to the Airs of Freedom series and explores transformation as a lived, physical event rather than an abstract idea. Priced at USD $5,000, the painting presents a moment after rupture—when what once floated has already changed form.
Inquiry
A painting born from an explosion
The conceptual origin of Air of Freedom No. 3 is simple and radical: a balloon explodes in midair. This rupture is not depicted literally; instead, its aftermath is traced across the canvas. The fragments of the balloon fall to the ground and become flowers. What was tension and containment releases into dispersion, color, and organic growth.
Rather than representing the balloon itself, the painting insists on evidence—proof that something once occupied the sky. This is where the composition becomes narrative. The absence of the balloon is intentional; its presence is remembered, not shown.
The red brushstroke as trace and signature
A red brushstroke crosses the surface as a decisive mark. It functions as a trace, a residue, and a sign. This gesture operates like a visual signature of the event: a confirmation that the balloon existed, that it ascended, and that it eventually transformed.
The brushstroke does not dominate the composition; it interrupts it. It reminds the viewer that transformation leaves marks—sometimes subtle, sometimes irreversible. In this sense, the red line is not decorative but evidentiary.
Flowers as a language of renewal
The flowers formed from the balloon’s fragments are not idealized symbols of beauty. They emerge as a consequence. Their presence speaks of continuity rather than optimism. Transformation, in Air of Freedom No. 3, is not portrayed as improvement but as inevitability.
What lands on the ground is not loss, but change. The work proposes that endings are rarely final; they are thresholds. When something reaches its limit, it does not disappear—it reconfigures.
Life, rupture, and the beginning hidden inside the end
Throughout the Airs of Freedom series, the balloon functions as a metaphor for life itself: fragile, expansive, suspended, and finite. In this painting, life is understood through its breaking point. The explosion is not violent; it is necessary.
Air of Freedom No. 3 reflects on a universal experience: the moment when one believes something has ended, only to discover that another form has already begun. The painting does not instruct or console; it observes. Its quiet power lies in accepting transformation as a condition of being alive.
Series context
Series: Airs of Freedom
Conceptual focus: Transformation, rupture, trace, renewal
Status: Available
Questions about the Artwork
What does the balloon symbolize in Air of Freedom No. 3?
The balloon represents life—its tension, ascent, fragility, and inevitable transformation.
Why is the balloon not visible in the painting?
Its absence is intentional; the work focuses on the trace left behind after transformation rather than the object itself.
What is the meaning of the red brushstroke?
It functions as evidence and signature—a mark confirming that the balloon once existed and that change has occurred.
How do flowers function symbolically in this artwork?
They are not idealized symbols but consequences of rupture, representing renewal through transformation.
Is Air of Freedom No. 3 part of a larger body of work?
Yes, it belongs to the Airs of Freedom series, which explores freedom, change, and the physicality of transformation.
