"The Universe of Strings – Yellow", 2006

Astronomy strikes again! Like any other artist so much of my inner preferences get expressed in my Art. After all… I could never be expressing anyone else but myself…. in some way, shape or form lol. When I was growing up, I wanted nothing more in life but to be an Astrophysicist. It turns out my realised profession would have me concerned with far more local things. It is true, however, to say that half of my time then was spent looking down (at rocks and animals) and the other half up (at the stars).

The Universe of Strings – Yellow is one of my paintings concerned with the abstract expression of some of the yearnings of both cosmologists and physicists. String Theory (in very simplistic terms) seeks to find that single theory connecting all the laws of physics and chemistry together with general relativity (a sort of theory of everything). Despite how much we (think we) know about the nature of the Universe and what is in it, there is still a huge disconnect between how things behave on a macro and micro level. We are told only a handful of people in the world can truly claim to understand quantum mechanics (me not being one of them). However, for us more ordinary folk who struggle to understand how light can be both particle and wave and how Schroedinger’s cat can be both dead and alive, we can all still appreciate the Universe’s ultimate duality which is Nature itself– stunningly simple and yet beautifully complex (in the same instant).

Title: "The Universe of Strings – Yellow"

Date of completion: 2006

Materials: Acrylic and Jamaican South Coast Black Sand on Paper

Dimensions : approx. 9.5" by 12"