Moon - les lunes du systeme solaire
Combining art with science
The separation of art and science is a recent
one, initially put in place in the 18th century during the "Age of Reason"
and perpetuated into the 20th century. This artificial compartmentalization
of knowledge leads to a limited view of the world, cutting it into small segments,
each individual
carefully remaining within the bounds of what they are expected to know. In
contrast, the interpretation of the world during the times of ancient Greece
and the Renaissance was more encompassing and did not recognize such formal
boundaries. Icons of those ages such as Aristotle and Leonardo DaVinci frequently
combined art and science in their interpretation of the world. In my view
this approach more accurately describes the real world and allows for more
engaging work. Recently, the divisions between disciplines are becoming more
blurred. The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Physics (1927) states that
the observer influences the outcome of an event just by observing it; essentially
acknowledging that the interpreter is part of the interpretation. Modern physics
is now straddling the boundary between physics and philosophy. At the same
time, contemporary art is no longer a literal depiction of the world. At the
same time as the Copenhagen Interpretation was being written, artists such
as Wassily Kandinski, Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian and others rejected realism
for new forms of expression such as contructivism, cubism and abstraction.
Artists began to reevaluate the use of colour in terms of its physical properties,
and the content of their work moved away from a straight depiction of the
real world; no longer painting things but painting ideas. In effect, art and
science use different forms of expression to examine the same ideas - a mathematical
formula and a sculpture may be different manifestations of the same subject
matter.
This removal of boundaries allows me as an artist to stray into the world of physics and astronomy, gain a new perspective of the world (and beyond), and translate this new perspective into my artwork. In my Moon series I am combining my passion for astronomy with my passion for art. By taking the viewer on a "voyage" to the other moons, I aim to expand the viewer's perspective of what I call our "neighbourhood" - our solar system. While Earth's Moon has been a staple in the world of art, philosophy and science, geologically speaking it is not nearly as interesting as other moons in our solar system. For example, the moon Io is covered in active volcanoes, Triton sports nitrogen geysers, Titan has a dense nitrogen atmosphere and seas of hydrocarbon, Europa is covered by water ice and harbours a vast ocean of liquid water beneath its frozen crust - and the possibility of life. These are fascinating, mysterious places which are unknown to many because they are beyond our immediate realm.
This is where I'd like to take the viewers of my work. While appreciating the beauty of these unseen places, it also expands the knowledge base of viewers who may not have been familiar with astronomy. The work "Family Portrait" is a series of multiple works, each depicting one moon. By examining each canvas, the viewer can figure out which moon has an atmosphere, which moon has a magnetosphere, the moon's colour and other main features. This way art can be used as a learning tool.
The examination and appreciation of other moons also allows for a shift of the viewer's geocentric view. With the realization that there are other worlds besides our own, comes the acknowledgement that there is the possibility of the development of life on these places. Moons such as Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan and Triton harbour liquid water which is deemed to be a basic requirement for the development of life. This leads us to consider alternative, parallel paths of evolution and a re-interpretation of what life and culture means to us. This re-examination of the status quo is what I want to encourage in the viewers of my work.
