Evolution and Christianity

( Size: 72" x 48" Oils )

Most of my paintings reflect this vastly unexplained theme, "The origins of Man". Were we products of a omnipotent super-being in outer physical space ? Or did we evolve here on Earth from primordial slime/soup, vacating the worlds oceans and furthering an evolutionary metamorphosis to our present level of being and consciousness ?

This work is abundant in symbolism, religion, man and woman, mammals of sea, genetics, cellular microbiology, plants and medicines, invention and "Time"...(does it really exist ?).

Subjects in the painting:

The Cross

Inverted, expanding, relates to the parallels between an expanding Universe and the slow, deliberate, development within the Christian Church, stagnating with dogma and rhetoric and leaving modernism on a back burner.

The Animals

Some distorted and elongated, relates to our new age of genetic engineering, this form of tinkering, if not controlled, may lead to a catastrophe, a "an Irreversible Pandora's Box"...

The Boat

Made from a leaf resting on a "Springboard" refers to the Ark, the Mayflower, exploration, progress, the unknown.

The Man's Torso

Lying at the edge of water, in the water a Whale, Dolphins situated at the head of the torso. This represents man's affinity with these gentle creatures of our oceans.

The Spheres

Are Godheads, new worlds, new vision !

The painting was constructed predominantly on a "Yellow" background, symbolising tranquillity and intelligence, hope !

E.W.Powell, 13.7.98. Painting completed 1/3/93.

Complexity comment:
Much research in the complexity field concentrates on genetic evolution. We seek to investigate the possibilities of genetic recombination, in generating new forms and varients. Often a small initial variation, which gives added fitness, causes a explosion of co-evolution in the other organisms in the ecosystem, an arms race if you like. The result of this can be the extinction of the 'improved' strain, of a dependent strain or even of all the previous strains !

Genetic meddlers, who invariably have little or no knowledge of the inter-connections between the species and levels in the wider ecosystem, should take account of the considerable research in the fields of Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Life on this subject, as well as in developmental biology. Genes are not isolated units, either within the organism or in their affects outside it. Each gene typically affects multiple traits, not just the one being monitored, and each trait is dependent upon multiple genes. Changing one bit in ignorance can cause unforeseen, devastating side effects elsewhere (rather like a computer bug fix can cause problems in other functions ! )...