My research project: The Eye Inside

The Eye Inside

Hawking's portrait: Time Flies!

I like this expression "Time Flies" because, it is true! My time for the last year has been so hectic and difficult but who am I to complain? I wished I could have completed the portrait of the author of "A Brief History of Time" sooner but I am afraid it 'll take a bit longer. Luckily I am at this present moment in a better situation for my mind to focus. Of course, not being a scientist, just a layman my approach to these questions is more "intuitive" i.e. "visual".
"What I cannot create I do not understand" said Physicist Richard Feynman as quoted by Hawking in his "The Universe in a Nutshell" book. So this is how I am trying to understand Hawking: by being creative. With a fresher approach I have decided to change its composition (again!) while immersing in the amazing world of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Time is key in this new composition as it is in our lives or in Hawking's. In his case, time is vital and essential at both a personal level (he was supposed to have died many years ago) and at a more fundamental conceptual level. And both meet in the same person: Stephen Hawking. Life's short. Knowing we could all die at any time, what would you do? He decided to focus on what's most important: to try to unlock the mysteries of the Universe, while still alive. Nothing less.

Time is precious yet we don't know what it is. And some say it flies...
It reminds me the ancient Greek philosopher Plato who said "Time is the moving image of Eternity". No wonder it is precious.

Hawking's portrait: Time Flies!

Professor Stephen Hawking once said: "All my life I have lived with the threat of an early death, so I hate wasting time." Source: Stephen Hawking: brain could exist outside body
I like this expression "Time Flies" because, it is true! My time for the last year has been so hectic and difficult but who am I to complain? I wished I could have completed the portrait of the author of "A Brief History of Time" sooner but I am afraid it 'll take a bit longer. Luckily I am at this present moment in a better situation for my mind to focus. Of course, not being a scientist, just a layman my approach to these questions is more "intuitive" i.e. "visual".
"What I cannot create I do not understand" said Physicist Richard Feynman as quoted by Hawking in his "The Universe in a Nutshell" book. So this is how I am trying to understand Hawking: by being creative. With a fresher approach I have decided to change its composition (again!) while immersing in the amazing world of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Time is key in this new composition as it is in our lives or in Hawking's. In his case, time is vital and essential at both a personal level (he was supposed to have died many years ago) and at a more fundamental conceptual level. And both meet in the same person: Stephen Hawking. Life's short. Knowing we could all die at any time, what would you do? He decided to focus on what's most important: to try to unlock the mysteries of the Universe, while still alive. Nothing less.

Time is precious yet we don't know what it is. And some say it flies...
It reminds me the ancient Greek philosopher Plato who said "Time is the moving image of Eternity". No wonder it is precious.

My coming portrait of Stephen Hawking

I met Prof. Stephen Hawking in Cambridge (UK) on June 4, 2008 after he kindly agreed with my proposal to do his portrait. I had this project in mind since the time I saw one of his painted portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London : I was appalled (so was he I learned later). It showed him as a "poor handicapped" with a sad grin in front of a scribbled blackboard. It wasn't fair! Hawking is a survivor. Because of his condition he should have died decades ago. Not only didn't he die but he helped revolutionise science! He has become a celebrity but unlike many "famous people" he deserves it. He is an inspiration not only for the handicapped but for those, like myself, who are lucky to be "normal". His muscle paralysis prevents him from doing all what we take as granted. His cheek movements are measured by a device connected to a computer which is how he communicates now: writing 2-3 words a minute, yet he has written best-sellers!
My idea for a fair portrait was that it should induce us with a sense of admiration and respect, not "commiseration". Moreover, a portrait wouldn't be fair if we avoid what has been the center of his entire life: Science. So my idea (and I believe I am the first portraitist attempting this) is to include visually some of his scientific theories and concepts. Most famously is his research on "black holes", the "Big Bang" (with R. Penrose) and his attempt to reconcile the “macrocosmic” laws of Einstein's General relativity (e.g. Time and Space are modified by Strong Gravitational fields) and the “microcosmic” laws of Quantum Mechanics; "Black holes" (as the "singularity" in the Big Bang theory) being the best "place" where such a "reconciliation" would occur. These questions have given rise to many ideas, one of the most promising "Theory of Everything" being the "String Theory".
So, after many attempts I came up with the idea of a monumental portrait (1.5 x 1.2 meters) to give a sense of the magnitude of the phenomena Hawking is dealing with. The backdrop is a famous galaxy whose center, possibly a black hole, dents locally the canvas (as a "brane") of the painting and hereby affects our immediate reality (represented by Big Ben whose time is modified by the Black hole/Galaxy).
Hawking's face appears, partly hidden, with an ironic smile. Reading his books helped me to realise that he has a real sense of HUMOUR!

The portrait is half way done and many changes might occur before it is "finalised". It is a creative and therefore very "quantum-like" unpredictable process ;-)

My coming portrait of Stephen Hawking

I met Prof. Stephen Hawking in Cambridge (UK) on June 4, 2008 after he kindly agreed with my proposal to do his portrait. I had this project in mind since the time I saw one of his painted portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London : I was appalled (so was he I learned later). It showed him as a "poor handicapped" with a sad grin in front of a scribbled blackboard. It wasn't fair! Hawking is a survivor. Because of his condition he should have died decades ago. Not only didn't he die but he helped revolutionise science! He has become a celebrity but unlike many "famous people" he deserves it. He is an inspiration not only for the handicapped but for those, like myself, who are lucky to be "normal". His muscle paralysis prevents him from doing all what we take as granted. His cheek movements are measured by a device connected to a computer which is how he communicates now: writing 2-3 words a minute, yet he has written best-sellers!
My idea for a fair portrait was that it should induce us with a sense of admiration and respect, not "commiseration". Moreover, a portrait wouldn't be fair if we avoid what has been the center of his entire life: Science. So my idea (and I believe I am the first portraitist attempting this) is to include visually some of his scientific theories and concepts. Most famously is his research on "black holes", the "Big Bang" (with R. Penrose) and his attempt to reconcile the “macrocosmic” laws of Einstein's General relativity (e.g. Time and Space are modified by Strong Gravitational fields) and the “microcosmic” laws of Quantum Mechanics; "Black holes" (as the "singularity" in the Big Bang theory) being the best "place" where such a "reconciliation" would occur. These questions have given rise to many ideas, one of the most promising "Theory of Everything" being the "String Theory".
So, after many attempts I came up with the idea of a monumental portrait (1.5 x 1.2 meters) to give a sense of the magnitude of the phenomena Hawking is dealing with. The backdrop is a famous galaxy whose center, possibly a black hole, dents locally the canvas (as a "brane") of the painting and hereby affects our immediate reality (represented by Big Ben whose time is modified by the Black hole/Galaxy).
Hawking's face appears, partly hidden, with an ironic smile. Reading his books helped me to realise that he has a real sense of HUMOUR!

The portrait is half way done and many changes might occur before it is "finalised". It is a creative and therefore very "quantum-like" unpredictable process ;-)

Con-(temporary) Artists

I think it would be more appropriate to rename so-called "Conceptual Artists" as "Con Artists". Here is a taster from Tracey Emin, the famous Con(ceptual) Artist. 
No need for any further arguments here, her work speaks for itself and is typical of this "Artistic Movement": no concepts, no ideas, this is lazy art (hence the title: "My Bed")...
Welcome to "Con Art"....


‘My Bed’: By Tracey Emin
The artwork generated considerable media furore, particularly over the fact that the bedsheets were stained with body secretions and the floor had items from the artist’s room (such as condoms, a pair of knickers with menstrual period stains, other detritus, and functional, everyday objects, including a pair of slippers. The bed was presented as it had been when Emin had not got up from it for several days due to suicidal depression brought on by relationship difficulties.
My Bed has very quickly come to symbolise a certain kind of art, usually referred to as conceptual art, which is appreciated by much of the art world.

From http://reemac.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/final-project-stage-1-contd/
Interesting reading:  The modern cult of ugliness: With desolate city centres and sordid 'art' like Tracey Emin's,  ROGER SCRUTON says the death of beauty in modern Britain is making us all ugly too

Jeremy Paxman gives up! The Turner Prize and Stuckists

Interesting url at www.stuckism.com/index.html

In the same vein:

Mark Kostabi, Con Artist (a documentary trailer):


F For Fake (Orson Welles)

My story of the 1992-93 Alsace-Sarajevo aid convoy

This entry has moved at my new "Artivism, or Art with a Conscience" blog:
A Citizens' aid convoy to besieged Sarajevo:A personal account