Eve, wip, oil, 64×48″.
Eve, is the 15th in the Space Series. I am painting the distant space in the upper part of the painting. After living with and creating towards the series over last 3 years, self-funded, I have noticed how primordial the nebula backgrounds are. This also mirrors that I think in terms of our 40,000 years of figurative art. Way back in time to our first proof of cognition, Lion Man. The protagonists in the Space Series aren’t quite like Ancient Greek gods and goddesses, they are, paradoxically, both my own invention and something before the Titans, called Protogenoi (primordial forces). Consequently, I think a good name for them is the Primordials.
After the Charlie Kirk assassination, and its media blitz. I heard repeatedly how he and every Christian was part of something larger. That concept always rubbed me wrong, as I, and I think most everyone, experiences life from their own perspective. But I was challenged to think more about the meaning of belonging to something larger than oneself. I had always felt viscerally close to the ancient cave artists, it was as if they just sculpted and painted their works now, like I am painting Eve. I can see their works just as fresh, without a filter, or interpretations. After a lot of brainstorming, I did indeed see how I was part of something much larger, exponentially larger than any religion, race, or civilization. But not only me, but every single human being that ever existed. We are all part of the cognitive human species, a unique phenomenon, all of which was launched by figurative art at the birth of human kind. Figurative art from then is the only absolute proof of human cognition happening, the manifestation of thought, emotion, and perception in the form of sculpture and painting.
This is a powerful thought to contemplate.
Michael Newberry 