Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.
–Claude Bernard
******************
I call this new painting, a 24″ by 24″ canvas, All We Do Not Know. It’s a continuation of my recent work incorporating a patterned background or sky. One of the things that draws me is that the strength of the patterns allow for simpler, sparser compositions. A single tree set in a simple landscape set against this pattern sends out its message clearly, without the veil of superfluous detail.
For me, I see this painting as being about the need to continue our search for knowledge and wisdom. We know so little even though at this point in time we have perhaps more knowledge than at any time that came before. Every age has a certain hubris about its place at the pinnacle of what is known and we certainly are no different.
Yet one only has to look into the sky and know that there are forces and powers beyond our comprehension. There are things that we sense but cannot see and perhaps may never know. But, as the great 19th century physiologist Claude Bernard points out above, we can only learn by moving toward that great unknown.
Look for that thing we don know. It is as much a seeking of the spiritual and existential as it is a scientific search.
There is always more to learn, a new horizon to which we can aspire. And perhaps that is where this path is taking us.
Redtree Times 