What's Next For Earth

Here’s a throwback Thursday from 2010. My painting “Hive”, which was an early work from my Aberrations series. This image was when cars first began to make an appearance in my work. At the time I thought of this as an apt metaphor for our industrialized society. From the perspective of an outside observer, our existence probably seems surreal. Basically, we are a species that travels around in metal machines that slowly pollute and cook our world. It seems so illogical. Hopefully, this will soon be an obsolete perspective as we transition from fossil fuels to a more sustainable form of existence.

This painting is from my Portents series, an ensemble of allegorical works intended to be visions of our imminent future. This painting depicts a towering structure where the world’s powerful elite reside. This 1% of society live in luxury, high in the sky, lording over everyone else crowded below. Of course, this is already happening today. Just look at the many luxury buildings in all the major cities around the world. I suppose it is ironic that my painting now hangs in a penthouse loft of such a place. But artists need to eat too, so I appreciate the patronage. This work addresses the dominant belief system in today’s society that humanity will prosper only through continuous economic growth. We need a change in mindset — a circuit breaker. The many different nuts and washers affixed to the circuit board suggest that each of us, in our own way, can interrupt this non-stop cycle of production and consumption. We are capable of developing ways of living that are more thoughtful and creative, and less resource-intensive, to avoid climate catastrophe.