"the wonders I would see if only i could breathe the air"

This acrylic painting, “the wonders I would see if only I could breathe the air,” is the sixth in a series of nine acrylic paintings by artist Bill Reed that he says are visual representations of climate change and the air quality issues facing Utah and the world.

“Here, in painting number six,” Reed says, “the white strip represents all that was taken away from our daily life by pollution.”

Reed’s “Breathe Deep the Gathering Gloom Tetraptych” (#5) was painted "plein air" at an outdoor air quality rally. He explains that the metal objects in the painting “represent everything I had coughed up the previous winter.”

Another piece in the series, the triptych “Climate Change” (#3) was featured in the 2015 Fall issue of UU World.