“Red 41” white paper

I don't accept the “Big Bang Theory” as an accurate description of how the universe developed. The theory is derived from the observation of an expanding universe based upon moving parts. Sure, things are moving about, but that doesn't mean that motion was the result of an explosion billions of years ago. It's like tossing a pebble in a pond of still water. The resulting ripples move away from the point of impact. As they move away, and there is no more energy to generate ripples in the center, the water goes back to stillness. In a universe of vacuum, the ripple of matter moving away from the center of the Big Bang with leave nothing in its center. Which would mean that when we look at all those stars and galaxies out there, we would be able to observe a big hole in the center of the universe where the original explosion occurred. All observable matter would move away from that point. There is no expanding vacuum in the middle of everything observable. Something else had to happen for everything to be here.

“Let there be light, and there was light” isn't about the creation of the universe. It's about the awareness of it. The ability to observe what is there. I developed a phrase to go with this over fifty years ago. “The form forming out of the formless fog.” Reality, that which can be observed and experienced, emerges from the formless fog. I became fascinated with the idea that I could create an image of that instant when form started forming. That moment when one could observe the creation of reality. “Emerging Totem” became a prime example of that challenge. The wood carving depicted an owl that was forming before a person having a vision, with the owl being the messenger of that vision. Other efforts haven't been quite as representational.

“You can't take it with you when you go.” The same phrase about the relationship between material possessions and death could also be said about the experience of becoming homeless. In November 2007, I had to walk away from all the artwork that I had created up to that point that was still in my possession. Which was most of that body of work. I couldn't take it with me. What I could take with me. What I still have with me today from that body of artwork. Is the experience of having created that work. That's what one can take with them when they die. No one. No force. Not even the universe. Can take away the experience of having created this body of artwork that I have been able to bring forth into the material plane. That experience is borne out of a celebration of the creation of the light that became reality. In the word of Thomas Merton, it is my “Letters to the Ace”. In the music of John Coltrane, this is my “Love Supreme”.

“Red 41”

Watercolor

9 x 12 inches | 30 x 22.8 cm 50 lb

June 19, 2014

Oliver Loveday © June 28, 2025 1:45pm EDT