Nightbloom— At Little Gems at West End Gallery
The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.
–Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988
I thought that Stephen Hawking writing about our recognition of the rhythms and patterns present in the universe would pair well with the new painting above, Nightbloom. It is part of the annual Little Gems exhibit that is hanging now at the West End Gallery in Corning.
For me, this piece is all about the central figure of the Red Tree observing the rhythms and patterns that surround it. There is the rising and falling of the sun and moon or the movement of the stars, varying slightly each day and night in a complex and unvarying pattern. Or the ebb and flow of the tides. Or the change of seasons each year and the activities that accompany each– planting, growing, and harvesting, for example.
And, of course, the life cycle of every living organism from birth to death.
And the interrelatedness of them all.
We sometimes have a moment of realization that our lives, while seeming often random and without purpose, play some part in a vast, complicated puzzle. We may never realize our role but just knowing we somehow belong to it must be enough. Leo Tolstoy wrote about just this in an entry from April of 1910 from his Last Diaries:
How good is it to remember one’s insignificance: that of a man among billions of men, of an animal amid billions of animals; and one’s abode, the earth, a little grain of sand in comparison with Sirius and others, and one’s life span in comparison with billions on billions of ages. There is only one significance, you are a worker. The assignment is inscribed in your reason and heart and expressed clearly and comprehensibly by the best among the beings similar to you. The reward for doing the assignment is immediately within you. But what the significance of the assignment is or of its completion, that you are not given to know, nor do you need to know it. It is good enough as it is. What else could you desire?
I see a form of this in this painting. We are what we are and we play that role in a play with a script that we will never see. The realization of this is as close as we may ever get to knowing the patterns which underlie our every move.
Let’s complete today’s triad of image, word and song with an old tune from Todd Rundgren from 1972. He’s one of those artists whose music was a staple of the FM channels of the 70’s and 80’s but who is a lot less known these days. This song is about a realization though maybe of a more personal nature than sensing the patterns of the universe. But it’s a good tune and the title fits. Here’s I Saw the Light.
Nightbloom is now hanging in the Little Gems show at the West End Gallery. There is an opening reception tomorrow evening, Friday, February 9, that runs from 5-7 PM. Hope to see you there.
Redtree Times 