Evolution - Are we there yet!

         The earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. The planet was a very different place from the one we know today. The atmosphere was too hot for oxygen, nitrogen and other elements to exist separately as they do today. These elements combined to form methane, ammonia, water vapor, hydrogen molecules, etc. According to Alexander Oparin (1894-1980), a Russian biochemist, these were the raw materials for the evolution of life. As there was no oxygen to form the ozone layer, the earths surface was exposed to the harsh ultra-violet radiation waves of the sun. Furthermore, incredibly violent electrical storms pervaded the atmosphere, unlike anything seen today.
         Under these early conditions, the first organic molecules were created, the most important of which were amino acids. These amino acids were the building blocks of life. After these compounds had been forged on early earth during a period of intense volcanic activity and an electromagnetic atmosphere, the earth began to cool down. The water vapors condensed, creating the oceans, lakes and rivers, in which simple organic molecules began to accumulate for millions of years, producing an "organic soup" of sorts. This mixture washed up on the clay and rocky shores (some of which are known to be off the Canadian and western Australian coastline), where water evaporated leaving behind concentrated organic compounds in high heat.
       

         Although not clear, it is believed that a group of organic molecules formed into droplets, or bubble like structures, which would eventually evolve into the first true cell. These primordial cells would have been autotrophs, which are organisms which produce their own energy, usually from sunlight. Some of these cells would evolve into heterotrophs (organisms which ingest organic material as a nutrient source). We would not be here today were it not for this important evolutionary episode. In this sense, each person is a supreme individual endowed with those qualities, that distinguished the human being from the slime from which he emerged.

Art Appreciation : Pablo Picasso

            Perhaps not one of Pablo Picasso's best known pieces, "Mediterranean Landscape" encapsulates a vibrant summer landscape in the Mediterranean, all the while exploring the geometric shapes in fragmented sections of buildings, gardens, and sky. There is no vanishing point to create the illusion of depth, instead the artist has cleverly constructed the composition using geometric shapes (such as circles, triangles and squares) and blocks of colour to give quasi-depth to the painting. Rather than document a place and time, Picasso has attempted to explore many aspects of the Mediterranean experience and in doing so captured the essence of the ""Mediterranean Landscape".

Art Appreciation : Chuck Close

          This self portrait by artist Chuck Close is a painting that has really caught my imagination. Our faces reveal so much about who we are. This image offers the viewer a fascinating entrance into the artists world by simultaneously providing a retrospective and introspective painting that challenges the viewers perceptions. The painting is not built up of big elaborate brush strokes, but rather constructed of little dots, squiggles and circles. It is the accumulation of all these dots, squiggles and circles that together add up to the larger structure of the face. Unlike a photograph that captures a moment in time, the artist has meticulously constructed and deconstructed this image incrementally, that is one unit at a time, using a grid technique so as to create each square to formal elements of design. In this sense each component/grid is a piece of art.
          The face itself is captured in a neutral state. This suggests the artist does not want to impose subjectively on the viewers reading but allow the viewer to decode the various intimate components embedded within the imagery. The methodology applied by Chuck Close in showing the many facets of his expression(s) by breaking it down into fragments and simple shapes, reminds me of the cubists approach when examining the subject matter, often showing many different aspects and angles at the same time. The image is quite confrontational and really challenges the viewer when seen from a distance, although the viewer may not quite be aware of what it is that he is looking at. As the viewer moves closer, the face becomes blurred while new intimate detail emerges drawing the viewer ever closer, until one finds oneself inspecting the intricate marks of a beard, than falling into nostril , almost like in the Brobdingnag world of "Gulliver's Travel", crawling across a vast landscape, stumbling across the edge of the glasses, than the corner of an ear.