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More
than anything else, A New World is a genesis painting. It about coming
to life, and the endless possibilities and chances that our endless,
immense universe offers.. Things are always stranger than we realize, or
want to realize, and fact is always deeper and wider and more awesome
than fiction. So why not a universe where life is transported from
planet to planet. In the 1970's British astronomers Fred Hoyle and
Chandra Wickramasinghe rekindled interest in Panspermia, a theory that
has been around since the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. They postulated
that life on earth as we know it started with seeding from a comet or
other celestial body, and that our origins really are not local here on
earth but perhaps from somewhere else in the universe. An interesting
idea to say they least. Not a shed of scientific evidence so it remains
just a theory, albeit a marvelous one. This theory is supported today by
many thinkers, including William Golding and James Lovelock, who
expanded the theory with their conception of Gaia. Here is a link to an
interesting website about
Panspermia
So,
on Liza's Reef, life changed via Panspermia....
The myths of the Manuia
tradition tell of a time many years before, during the reign of
Queen Aiata, when shooting stars fell from the sky one
night, and some landed just off the western side of the island, in
the vicinity of a large coral reef just offshore. The
islanders tell of how the
reef changed overnight in extraordinary ways -new, exotic and
previously unknown species of fish and coral appeared in great numbers,
and celestial phenomena; stars, galaxies and lights began to appear
among the corals. This painting then, is an episode from that chapter.
A difference here is that the life is being brought to the reef encapsulated inside the bodies of miniature planets. Planets that are really eggs, the bringers of life. Gaia is a common term many people now use to talk about our Earth, thanks mainly to Professor James Lovelock. Our earth is a She, a Mother, a Goddess, the bringer forth of life, the ultimate Yin energy. And on Liza's Reef, a Yin place if there ever was one, life springs forth from a deeper source in the universe.
My
favorite fish is the little Saveur Noir et Verde, Green and
Black Tangs, as they are called. They are clearly shown emerging from
one of the planetary eggs, which makes sense since they are found
nowhere else on the earth except on Liza's Reef. These are little fish
that are lovers, and happy and always on the move for things to explore
and learn about. They reproduce like crazy and within a few years, where
there was two there will be hundreds!
To Painting # 9 "The Emerald Grouper"