Artist Alex Schaefer's Paintings of Burning Banks Ignite Interest

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Artist Alex Schaefer is using his artistic talents to express his feelings towards banks and capitalism – by painting banks on fire.

And he's received support for his efforts. One of his paintings of a burning Chase Bank recently sold on eBay for $25,200 to an art collector in Germany, The Los Angeles Times reported.

After the Chase painting garnered the attention (and price) that it did, Schaefer quickly put up another canvas of a Bank of America burning. That painting sold for $3,600 to a buyer in Britain.

The Los Angeles artist was surprised by the response to the purchase.

On his blog he wrote, "I'm still in a state of shock but slowly coming to! Thank you world for all your love! I can't tell you how excited I am for all this and for artistic recognition but also for the ability of a simple painting to get so many people talking about such important issues! I'm humbled."

The idea for the paintings came over the course of about a year.

"I started painting burning buildings, but not specifically burning banks," Schaefer explained in an email interview.

"Then I started painting imagined riot scenes from my mind. I've always loved and [have] practice plein air painting, and have over the past few years developed a distaste for the banking industry and the handling of the economy, so eventually that all came together in the burning bank series."

Not everyone understands Schaefer's artistic interpretation, however.

Local police questioned the artist, twice. They asked if he was a terrorist after someone reported that the painting made them uncomfortable as he was painting it.

"It's sad that we're becoming so fearful as a culture," he wrote. "If whoever called the police had simply talked to me they would not have felt 'threatened', as the police told me, but then none of this would have happened."

As for Schaefer's future plans, he plans on painting some European banks next.

"I want to take the idea to Europe and paint in flames the best of the worst banks in the big cities over there and then spend 6 days in each place enjoying painting all the beautiful places as well," Schaefer explained.

When asked how long it takes for him to create each painting, he replied, "I like to say that this painting took 5 hours and 22 years. I want the painting to look joyous and simple, like a performance by an acrobat or a musician, but don't forget the long time it takes to develop that level of facility."

When he is not expressing his artistry with painting, you might find him cooking. Schaefer said it's the only other form of art he enjoys.

More on Schaefer at his blog alexanderschaefer.blogspot.com