MARs ReVISITED
CUriosity and Perseverance Crater 2017 | Watercolor on paper | 39.5" x 12.75"
May 6, 2018
Mars Revisited is a moment of pause. In the first painting of this series of large watercolors, Curiosity's rover tracks lead the eye into an expansive landscape, but the scene is looking back at where we have already been and then projecting that forward into where we might go. For hundreds of years, Mars has captured human imagination, from Abbott and Costello to Nikola Tesla’s desire to establish communication with beings he believed lived there. Yet now that we are actively exploring the planet, public interest has waned, reflective of a wider disconnect with science and disinterest in news that is anything less than shocking. But what we are learning has deep implications for understanding our own existence, as well as potentially what could happen to our home planet.
Current scientific understandings and the technology used to gain information about our neighboring planet are honored through subtle allusions. Wide panoramas are a nod to the vast, composite panoramic images captured by NASA's rovers. A jagged shape results from the irregular edges of those images. Exaggerated colors suggest the false color manipulation that allows scientists to more easily see geologic details or differences in how light particles interact with the atmosphere. Across the series, the subject of each painting acts as a survey of some of the key information being revealed through current exploration. But far from technical representations, the surfaces are contemplative, even meditative, with landscapes reduced to basic shapes filled with complex washes.
Each one is an invitation to get a little bit lost as the eye relaxes its focus, to lose yourself in the beauty or grandeur of it, or to perhaps simply think about how remarkable it is that human beings have made the first steps towards walking on another planet. We are only decades away from that reality. That humans will someday have a permanent presence on that planet in some way is an inevitability, and how that presence will impact it and set a precedent for all future space exploration is one to consider carefully. It's worth looking back at how our species has impacted our own world, and asking what will our legacy be both here and out there.
Like previous series such as Universe and Emergence, Mars Revisited also carries an unspoken personal narrative. It's a reflection of a moment in time in my life, as pause, reflection, and quiet set a tone for stepping into a future where I get to write my own story, and what will that story be?
More paintings from this series can be seen on my Art page.
The painting shown here, Curiosity and Perseverance Crater, was included in the Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition at Artspace 111 in Fort Worth, juried by Editor-in-Chief of Glasstire Christina Rees.
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