An introduction to evolution in abstraction

This is a journey by the artist to visually portray, through colours that have been stretched, blended and manipulated into a three dimensional visual experience. The restructured acrylic polymer paint is purposely, thoughtfully and physically mixed to meld, adhere and in the final result, visually portray the essence of my artistic direction, personal ideological thought and spiritual connection to the surroundings we share and the space we exist in.

It is about the connections in life that we see, hear, feel and sense. It is about the emotions we experience, yet sometimes don’t understand or take for granted. It is through my art that I try to bridge the gap between the spiritual and the scientific. It is about the fluidity of life and the unseen microscopic universe; that which we move in and around and are; that which we gaze up to on a daily/nightly basis. Loosely yet directly and thoughtfully applied; the implication of accident that has been denied in the past in regard to this style; is reaffirmed in my own mind. While I to, deny the accident; I implore, accept and embrace it as the essence of abstraction. It is sought, while not directly pursued. When and as it occurs as a condition of the philosophy of artistic expression, ‘change’ should be treated as the mistake, to be denounced. Each application, each physical interaction between artist, medium and surface can be replicated and controlled while the nature of the style demands uniqueness. This uniqueness is quintessential to the philosophy of the art. It is the art.

The art cannot be forged. Each piece has its own artistic DNA. Each piece is signed off and in keeping with the philosophy of the artistic direction has the artists fingerprint somewhere on its surface. Unframed canvas or masonite is, at times, textured in some way, to add to depth perception and the visual experience that wills the viewer to become at one with the art. To journey into and beyond the surface, then withdraw. To experience a sense of the small and insignificant and yet be overwhelmed by distorted, yet beautiful largeness. The art is a personal abstract evolution and a general expression of evolution in constant motion, spasmodically flowing in a harmony and contrast of colour in separation – yet united. To see the texture and sense light; to feel emotion while experiencing some connection to our universal landscape and ultimately the chemistry and spirituality of life itself.

This chemistry that we take for granted is forged and harmonised in all things. It is to this end that my art and understanding of that art begins with the universe that is the medium and thus makes a summary of my work near impossible without a fuller, more concise, syced explanation. This summary is and must become a journey that the reader and observer participate in fully to understand and appreciate were it is that I, as an artist is coming from and where the art is going, been and belongs.

It is in part an appendix. It is in part Newtonian. It is in part an academic nutrient. It is in part an abstract abyss of chemistry, science and spirituality that leaves the informed viewer with a sense of nirvana at its nucleus.

Polymer: A large molecule made by linking smaller molecule (monomers) together. A chemical formed by the union of many monomers (a molecule of low molecular weight that can be chemically bound as a unit of a polymer). Polymers are used with other chemical coagulants (chemicals that cause very fine particles to clump together into larger particles. This makes it easier to separate the solids from the water by settling, skimming, draining or filtering) to aid in binding small suspended particles to form larger chemical flocs (clumps of bacteria and particulate impurities that have come together and formed a cluster) for easier removal from water. All polyelectrolytes are polymers, but not all polymers are polyelectrolytes. Polymers are any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds of usually high molecular weight consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units, each a relatively light and simple molecule.

Visible Light: That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum which is detectable by the human eye. The sun emits ‘white light’, which is all visible colours, but which is only a small part of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light is energy in the range of approximately 7800 to 3900 Angstroms, where one angstrom is 0.0000000001 meters. The visible spectrum is most obvious in a rainbow, when the sun’s different colours of light are bent (refracted) by the earth’s atmosphere during a rainstorm.

Electromagnetic Spectrum: The entire range of radiation extending in frequency from 10 to the 23 rd degree, cycles per second to zero Hertz (electric wave).

Angstrom: This is a unit of measurement equal to .1 nanometers, which is approximately 1/250 millionth of an inch. Angstroms are used to measure the wavelengths of light and the elements in a chip. One nanometer is equal to 10 angstrom; and one micron is equal to 10,000 angstroms. The size of an atom is three to 10 angstroms.

Finally we start to move on. The connection between the artistic medium and life itself begins to take shape.

Atom: A fundamental building block of matter. Atoms are microscopic solar systems that are made up of particles and mostly space. Within that space, electrons create an outer shell by circling a nucleus containing protons and neutrons of similar mass. Neutrons have no electrical charge, but protons have a positive charge. Since there are the same number of electrons as there are protons and since electrons have a negative charge, the atom has a net charge of zero.

World-renowned scientist and Nobel prize winner Max Planck made the remarkable comment…….

‘There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter’.

Obviously, as I see it, there is a spiritual and scientific coalition. Yet the nature of the comment is divisive and problematic and in the end – personal. But it helps with the evolution of thought and understanding though commentary, debate and introspectiveness. To acknowledge smallness is to respect greatness.

Matrix: This is a group of elements organised in columns and rows. The mould in which a cast is made. Substance in which mineral is found embedded, a medium in which an influence develops.

DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid is the chemical inside the nucleus of all cells that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms. A DNA molecule consists of two strands that wrap around each other to resemble a twisted ladder. The sides are made of sugar and phosphate molecules. The ‘rungs’ are made of nitrogen – containing chemicals called bases. Each strand is composed of one sugar molecule, one phosphate molecule, and a base. Four different bases are present in DNA – adenine (A), thymine(T), cytonine (C) and guanine (G). The particular order of the bases arranged along the sugar – phosphate backbone is called the DNA sequence; the sequence specifies the exact genetic instructions required to create a particular organism with its own unique traits. Each strand of DNA molecule is held together at its base by a weak bond. The four bases pair in a set manner. (A) pairs with (T) while (C) pairs with (G). These pairs of bases are known as base pairs. These base pairs are the basis of the Y- chromosome testing. But that’s another story and my basis is art.

My artistic journey is one of discovery. It is an adventure that must and will continue as I strive to express my thoughts, feelings and emotions. These human traits seem to relate to our beginnings and continuation and have no relation to an end. To me science, religion and the mathematics of life are mysterious and connected. They have been unified symbolically through art -‘The Great Communicator’.

From the first markings on cave walls, our artistic development was intertwined and fundamental to any advancement that we have made. The representations that were once symbolic of life and survival historically developed into writing and numbers that have lead to the advanced learning and technology. These advancements will continue as we learn and understand. We stretch and manipulate the mediums of our planet and change the texture of the space we fill, the ground we walk upon and the air we breathe. Some of these things work while many do not. We seek balance and harmony amid the chaos. Daily we sort through a labyrinth of decisions, plans and emotions and we become forgetful or take for granted the most obvious fact….we are the art; a living, breathing installation in perpetual motion.

Science tells us of the beginning in terms of the ‘big bang theory’. It advocates a universal start to an evolutionary process some 15 billon years ago. It also tell us that the universe is continually expanding and that at sometime, perhaps 5 billion years from now, give or take, that the greater universe will implode on itself.

Is that it? I ask myself. I try to remain open-minded and not in any sense of denial as regards a creator or science. I question it all. I contemplate a sense of heaven and the enormity of the universe and am in awe of the beauty of its creation and can only begin to wonder why it would be destroyed. Even if it where some 5 billon years from now. And possibilities begin to manifest themselves in my mind (another universe in itself).

What if the big bang wasn’t the beginning and the implosion theory wasn’t the end at all. What if these two theories ran concurrently, cognitively….abstractly? Relative time being a human condition with little place in the universal state. Heaven and hell could then co-exist in the now. When our spirit, soul or universal DNA leaves the casing we exist in, through death, we can then go on to spend time in the presence and peaceful harmony of an unfathomable greatness until the next big bang. Before being concurrently, cognitively and abstractly returned to a new evolutionary process, in whatever form. The essence remaining the same.

Believers in God denounce evolution in life as presented by science. Yet so many scientists are believers in God. It seems basically imbedded in our psychic to have a need to believe and hope in more than pure mathematics and the uncertainty that this can spiritually involves.

This argument continues to foster so much unrest, division and confusion. While some new science advocates that our past, present and future are all preordained in our own personal DNA. The words of Genesis 3: 17-19 seem to tell us that we came from the ground and we are just dust and we will return to being dust. If all things have a DNA, then it stands to reason that dust must have its own. Perhaps there is some sort of undetected agreement after all. Perhaps my own need to find balance and harmony on a spiritual level is ambitious. But I can only understand that creation in all things is something to be marvelled at and whatever or whoever had the artistic genius to put it all together deserves praise and respect, if not some form of worship.

The core belief of the Gnostic gospel (dating from around 350 A.D) begins with the assertion that the world in its current state is not good, nor is it the creation of a good god. In fact, the cosmos is seen as a mistake, the action of a minor deity who was unable to achieve a creation worthy of permanence. The result is a world of pain, sorrow and death filled with human beings that long to be freed from a material existence. Deep within each person is a divine spark that connects humanity with the ultimate spiritual being who remains hidden from creation. The only hope for humanity is to acquire the information it needs to perfect itself and evolve out of its current physical state. The Gnostic Jesus descended from the spiritual realm to show the way for the rest of humanity, not to die as atonement for sin, but to make available information necessary for self-perfection.

Confused as I may be: Technology continues to grow and I continue to evolve. The one thing that is evident to me is that we are part of a universal artistic masterpiece, a living, breathing installation, a sculpture of enormous magnitude. Abstract in so many vibrant colourful ways; yet so traditional in its need for balance and harmony. Perspective leaves the viewer pondering thoughtfully. The artistic, creative evolution continues.

The journey of discovery that has been and is my life personally, artistically, philosophically, spiritually and psychologically has warmed to a sense of heaven while it has shuddered and cowered in the presence and understanding of a hell.

Like a modern gypsy, I have sought greener pastures, needed change like I have required air to breath. I have challenged and been challenged; I have lost and won. I have walked hand-in-hand with hope and slept with despair as my pillow. The search for knowledge and understanding began, it seems, long ago. Before I knew it, days turned into decades and the light at the end of the tunnel remained a speck. I have wished that reality could emulate dreams. Where in that universal state of being, anything is possible and time, space and mass don’t matter and are changeable at a whim.

Discovery in life is comparative to me; like first love, travelling to a new land, watching a child develop and grow or even an accident in art. It seems amazing, to me, how those discoveries that are most meaningful – the ones that we travel so far to find, are indeed, right there with us the whole time. We need only to open our eyes and take lateral thinking to a new level.

Going up!!...... First floor; Lingerie, socks and toys….. Second floor; Furniture, menswear and lolli-pops…..Third floor……True understanding, amazing discoveries and artistic accidents. Even the most serious situations can benefit from humour. It was just a moment…

The inclusions and thoughts written here are all relative to my art. Everything that I’ve done, come to understand, and idealistically believe in, seem to have brought me to this state of mind and art that I now find myself comfortably residing in.

The expression of that which we take for granted. The largeness and importance we place on ourselves as we seek more space without understanding our own insignificance. We exist in solar systems and universes that start at some infinite place that we try to understand and continue into an infinity we can never understand – it is incomprehensible. It is this infinity that I seek to portray in a visual, emotional context. It is a combination of thinking, feeling, seeing that is taken for granted. The art is an extension to motivate that which is all of us. We all need to make it to the third floor. Art is quintessential to life, science, chemistry, philosophy, the universe; As we are all those things to the art.