MICRONAUT

MICRONAUT
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

"The Micronaut"

This painting illustrates my continued interest in the "Underworlds" where tiny universes exist beyond our senses, and my fascination with a possible future where man utilizes technology to evolve beyond our current state. This piece brings those two ideas together for me.

I envision a future where mankind has reinvented itself through 'self evolution'. Some day you will be able to 'be' anything we can imagine. Not only will we live indefinitely, we will be able to take any form we wish, and live a multitude of lives limited only by our imaginations.

This may not be so far out! When we hit the "Technological singularity", (an "intelligence explosion", suggesting that if machines could even slightly surpass human intellect, they could improve their own designs in ways unforeseen by their designers, and thus recursively augment themselves into far greater intelligences. The first such improvements might be small, but as the machine became more intelligent it would become better at becoming more intelligent, which could lead to a cascade of self-improvements and a sudden surge to superintelligence (or a singularity).) we will, by using the machines yet to be invented, be able to speed up, and control the path of human evolution. We will develop into a new 'post human' form.

This painting is one of many visions I have of the future. A blind boy* has invented a "bio-vehicle" (a living machine) to take him through a microbic universe.

*(Yes!, of course he could cure his own blindness … He's probably just got his eyeballs in the shop for the latest upgrade!)

Memento Mori

Memento Mori
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

Memento Mori, (Remember you will die)
18" x 24" Acrylic on panel ~ October 2009

One of the "UNDERWORLD" paintings I've been creating in the past few months. This one is changing however. As you can see, human faces are beginning to show up. In this case, they are the dead floating in the still waters before the symbol of death, the skull. The skull is being overgrown with reeds showing the passing of time.

MANTIS POND

MANTIS POND
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

MANTIS POND - 12" X 24" Acrylic on canvas 9/2009

This is another 'interim' painting, (I will not call it a study) moving towards a larger piece 'UNDERWORLD IV'. This is character development. The cobra lilies are becoming more cobra-like. The caterpillars are evolving. The mantis is a new character, as is the black widow spider. There are many black widows were I live. They amaze me.

I'll probably move into the larger piece now. I've used this same palette and same basic theme in my last 3 or 4 paintings. I plan to continue specializing like this, continue to explore where this world will take me, until I have exhausted the potential of this world. That might very well be never.

If only I could live forever.

UNDERWORLD 5 ~ COBRA LILIES

UNDERWORLD 5 ~ COBRA LILIES
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

COBRA LILIES ~ 10" X 20" ~ Acrylic on canvas ~ 2009

Study #2 for the painting, 'UNDERWORLD 5'

This is (what I call) a study for the larger painting I'm planning. Before I begin painting the larger piece, I want to make sure I'm happy with the characters and other aspects of the painting, water, sky, plant colors, etc ... I think this one holds it's own. I dig the cobras and the guy walking through the swamp. He was an unexpected visitor into my world. I'm not sure if he will be in the big painting or not.

CHRIST SUFFERING FOOLS

CHRIST SUFFERING FOOLS
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

"JESUS CHRIST PORTRAIT #7"
An Acrylic Painting on wood panel
IMAGE SIZE: 11" x 14"

This is the 7th Christ portrait I've done in 24 months. I'm an 'Animist' myself, which is one step up, (or is it down?) from an atheist. I believe in everything and nothing simultaneously. Seems conflicted, yet somehow it works for me. In spite of this, I've always been interested in the image of Christ.

As a child brought up in a neighborhood of Irish Catholics, I was the only mutt from a family of unknown origin, and atheistic leanings. The icons at the neighborhood church, only a few doors away, of the bloody Christ figure in anguish, was one of the earliest images burned into my childhood memory. Of course, I was constantly told by my young peers that I was destined for hell, having no baptism.

Keep the faith baby!

UNDERWORLD 5, Curiosity

UNDERWORLD 5, Curiosity
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

"UNDERWORLD V" (Curiosity) Paint study 12" x 12" Acrylic on paper


This is a painted study for the fifth in my series I call "UNDERWORLD"

I plan to re-paint this in a larger, more polished and evolved version.

I am calling this "CURIOSITY" because the living things in the picture seem curious about the inanimate objects; The skull, the crack pipe, and the tablet.

Flora vs. Fauna, UNDERWORLD IV

Flora vs. Fauna, UNDERWORLD IV
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

FLORA vs FAUNA, (UNDERWORLD IV)

18" X 18" Acrylic on wood panel

This is number 4 in my series I call "UNDERWORLD(s)" My vision of the life that thrives in gigantic, yet tiny worlds which surround us, but is also hidden from us.

This one illustrates the occasional dominion of plants over animals, hence the title; "FLORA vs FAUNA"

The scrotal looking plants in the painting are California Pitcher plants, also known as "COBRA LILIES". These clever plant adaptations entice their insect pray into a narrow mouth, heading toward a digestive "pot" with inward pointing hairs, preventing the insect from reversing out, sort of like a lobster trap.

The big red "flower" is modeled after an Anthurium. However the stamen of this particular Anthurium is patterned after a "Sticky Trap" carnivorous plant, (the Drosera Capensis). But of course, Anthuriums don't have tendrillic appendages which capture hornets either. (But wouldn't it be wonderful if they did!)

RED GARDEN

RED GARDEN
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

Red Garden (aka; "The things in my red garden)

8" x 10" Acrylic on masonite

This is #3 in my "UNDERWORLDS" series of paintings

UNDERWORLD II ~ Zoooids

UNDERWORLD II ~ Zoooids
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

(UNDERWORLD II) ~ ZOOOIDS (ZOO-OYDS)
12" x 12" Acrylic on canvas ~ 6/15/2009

My second painting in the series "UNDERWORLD" , these are the 'ZOOOIDS' or 'ZOOIDS', (** see definitions below) Self-replicating organisms through means other than sex.

My creatures are based on living things called "Siphonophora". The illustrations I discovered are from the bio-drawings of Ernst Haeckel, (from the book; "ART FORMS IN NATURE") (Ernst Haeckel: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel) Sometimes I meander through this lovely book to get jolts of inspiration. (and also to enjoy, always that!)

I'm also currently working on #3 in the 'Underworld' series which I plan to title "FAUNA vs FLORA", or vise-versa.

Definitions of "ZOOIDS"

1. any organic body or cell capable of spontaneous movement and of an existence more or less apart from or independent of the parent organism.
2. any animal organism or individual capable of separate existence, and produced by fission, gemmation, or some method other than direct sexual reproduction.
3. any one of the recognizably distinct individuals or elements of a compound or colonial animallike organism, whether or not detached or detachable.

Underworld I

Underworld I
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

Acrylic on canvas - 24" x 24"

UNDERWORLD I is my first in a series of "UNDERWORLD" paintings. This is an evolution of my "CRUSTACEAPODS" and my "MICROBIA" paintings. This one is about 'insects', in case you did not notice that ;)

The Bone-Yard Walk

The Bone-Yard Walk
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

ACRYLIC ON WOOD COMPOSITE PANEL 16" X 20" (40.6 cm x 50.8 cm)
Completion date 3/25/2009


A bone-yard is a graveyard, and represents death. We walk a path from birth to death starting the day we're born. Some walks are further than others. Some hardly get a few steps. None of our roads seem very long. Hardly long enough to understand the point of the walk.

This painting is self-allegory. Personal feelings at the time of painting it. It's depressing. It's a little scary. My life is full of death and dieing these past several years. Dieing people are all around me. In the past 33 months there have been three deaths of people close to me. Not good deaths. Horrible deaths.

Most deaths are horrible. Often, people don't know that. Especially when you are young, and not exposed to very much dieing, (if you are lucky) you think of death as happening in a nicer way than it usually happens. Either "crash and burn heroic death", or "die in your sleep with your loving family" death. Unfortunately, the reality as I've seen it is that death is appalling. The best death is a quick and unforeseen death. This sort of dieing is the rarest of the rare. Quick and unforeseen death hardly ever happens.

Cancer took two of these people who died in my sphere. This walker in my painting is pregnant with cancer. Cancer gets it's hooks into you and weaves itself inside you so densely that there's no way to cut it out without killing you. What could be more frightening than to realize you have cancer growing inside you? That thing on/in, and which is her belly is my metaphoric cancer creature.

The bones strewn upon the road are a metaphor for the dead hopes and dreams we leave behind us on our walk.

I have sacrificed many things I hold dear as I have ventured on my walk. The severed limbs also represent this for me. I have sacrificed and compromised on my walk many more times than I ever thought I would. Allegorically speaking, I'm headed to becoming a torso with four stumps. (ha! ha!)

The self immolation of the hand is also an analogy for the conscience decision to part with important ideals for the sake of "survival". It seems at odds to say one must sacrifice the things important in life to keep living it, yet this seems to be the norm. I can speak only for myself of course.

I feel myself becoming crippled. I'm deteriorating myself as I walk down this road. Death can be a slow process. A piece here, and a piece there, and some day there's nothing left. All these pieces are left on the road. The bone-yard road is strewn with the detritus of life's cast off ambitions.

Who are the fat cretins on the road,? They are me, of course. They are me as I see myself in a mirror; flaccid, enervated and unfit. Grotesque and ridiculous. Blemished hairy and stinking. A gross flesh-bag of putrified sludge. Ugly beyond redemption. I've got a fishbowl on my head because I am an alien.

Why is the city burning? The city of Los Angeles is always on fire. It is always hot and dry and smoking. The city terrorizes me. The people chill and disgust me. Los Angeles is a smoking poisonous horror. A monstrosity behind a mask. Dangerous, the hearts of it's citizens are filled with ignorance and malice. Fleeting superficial beauty under a poison cloud. LA is a mutant machine that runs on the blood and souls of men and women.

I live in a hideout in the hills, off a dirt road. I have posted hand painted signs of danger to drivers who mistakenly approach my dead end road; "DO NOT ENTER, YOU WILL GET STUCK! LOOSE GRAVEL! TURN BACK!" That keeps most people away. I am reluctant to leave my hideaway.

As long as that candle in the walkers head is alight, I am still me. I will keep walking.

NOTE: this painting will be shown at the upcoming group art exhibition; "SAY WHEN" at the "BOLD HYPE GALLERY" , April 4th Through May 10th, 2009 in Orlando Florida. For more info check out the website; www.boldhype.com

I WANT TO BE A SPACESHIP

I WANT TO BE A SPACESHIP
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

"I WANT TO BE A SPACESHIP #1"
8" x 10", Acrylic on wood panel, February 11, 2009


The complete title: "I want to be a spaceship so I can fly the hell out of here!"

What I think about very often, and certainly something that inspired and influenced this work, is my daydreams of somehow escaping this life for a better, more fulfilling one. This is why I want to be a Spaceship.

Silly thought? True … Would I dream as much as I do if I were content with life as it is? Is contentment the object of life? Happiness? Or are we here to suffer and like it? These questions are examples of why religion was invented. Life is so disagreeable that people had to invent justifications for the savage conditions of survival. Thus, religions were born. Religion is slowly becoming obsolete. Too much science exists for many people to have faith in God and deities who control every flake of dandruff falling from our heads. The replacement is technology, and in effect, the computer chip is the new God. And when we become computers, (which we already are, "Bio-Computers") we will become like God.

What does this have to do with my painting? Not much, … well … except this; The only way I will ever actually become a spaceship is to augment my physical body with technology enough to sustain my life long enough to reach a time in which space travel exists. I can then transform myself into a spaceship using nanobot technology, or whatever else is invented. THEN, I could actually BE a spaceship and get the hell off this rock! However, by that time, I may find life pleasant enough, and find myself having power enough, (which is what I lack now, and one BIG reason I am dissatisfied) to be happy and satisfied with myself … because by then I would have reinvented myself AS God! … WOO-HOO!

So, this painting is indeed a little piece of a daydream. Symbolic, metaphorical, and allegorical of my dreams. You might say this is "my religion" This is my hope for an existence beyond this short life span. In my hopeful opinion, this can all be made real by extending this life rather than believing the dogma of an afterlife like that proposed in many religions.

These ideas are probably getting under the skins of those who still believe in Christ, Allah, Buddha or whatever God. However, I DO TOO!!! I'm hedging my bet! So please don't bother sending me any letters about how Jesus is the only thing that is going to save me because if he will, he already has! I am not atheistic, though perhaps I fall into the definition of agnostic. That is simply because I DO NOT KNOW. I can't seem to have "blind faith" in these things.

But who cares? I hope it's true that Jesus loves me because there sure aren't many others!

I know for sure is that I look into a mirror and see something that I have been led to believe is "me". What this "me" "is", IS what I am confused about. There are too many definitions that seem to be in conflict with one another. I am most certainly in the dark about what this mass of water, guts, blood, bone, goop and puss is doing blubbering and blundering around on this ball of dirt. What is the point? Just to consume living material and crap it out to feed a new generation of living material and eventually die myself and be eaten and decompose for the sake of ongoing living and dead existence only!? To continue to procreate and evolve for the sake of evolution and existence?

Well, I don't know, and this is getting boring so THANK GOD I can dream! So far, that seems the most worthwhile thing I do … Just keep dreaming.

More soon - RSC - 2/11/2009

Don Quixote meets his Chimera

Don Quixote meets his Chimera
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

Acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24" completed January, 2009

This is a long overdue commissioned painting. Actually, it's for a friend of mine who asked me to paint his idea back in 2006. This idea is (loosely) "Don Quixote meets 'his' Chimera".

I've come up with my own "CHIMERA". I've always envisioned a "Chimera" as ones personal demon. That "Bug-a-Boo" that creeps, a hallucinogenic monster. The thing that lays in wait in our minds shadows. It's not the typical representation of the beast with several heads. That was never right for me. I recall reading "Les Miserables", Victor Hugo. In this book, possibly my favorite of all time, Hugo constantly refers to "The Chimeras of men" Meaning the fears that man manufactures. That which embodies fear and evil in his imagination is his "Chimera". Thus,to each man, his own Chimera exists as different and unique. ( "a horrible or unreal creature of the imagination; a vain or idle fancy: He is far different from the chimera your fears have made of him. A fanciful mental illusion or fabrication.")

Since Don Q's mission is to eternally seek and vanquish evil, (An impractical idealist bent on righting incorrigible wrongs), I thought it appropriate that Don Q would "meet" his "Chimera" on the roads he travels seeking the monsters in his imagination.

The faces in the rocks represent the dreams and hallucinations of the intrepid soldier Don Quixote. The precipice which leads down to the swirling waters filled with monsters and dead men betokens his decent into madness.

Christ Portrait #4

Christ Portrait #4
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

This is number #4 in my ongoing series of JC portraits **

8" x 10" Acrylic on wood panel, Jan. 2009

Since childhood I've been exposed to the image of Jesus Christ. Usually bloody, and nailed to a cross. I was told that we is the savior of mankind. I was also told he was the son of God, God himself, and many other conflicting things, including that he does not, and did not, exsist at all.

I have had a long and very serious relationship with this man. I have thought of him often for year upon year. Yet still, I don't know what he is, or if he is anything.

I have spent hours speaking with him, though even as I spoke, I did not know if I was talking to him or to myself. I have an idea that he did exist, yet also ideas that he was created by men to control man.

I think it is good what he, among others, represent, (usually). Something should stand for what we have come to believe is good and noble in us. I think that this is useful.

However, It seems to me that science disputes him. That even common sense dictates that the existence of he as a God is foolishness.

And yet, there is a burning desire in me that wants these "fairy tales" about goodness, and righteousness, and a everlasting soul living beyond this world to be true.

What a shame if all there is to us is this short and mostly superficial life of ours. What a disappointment.

In my home, and in my studio, I have many images of the Christ. Also, Buddha, and other persons said to be inspired from things beyond this short life span.

Even my own father, long dead, I relate to as if he were still alive. I carry on conversations with all of these people. Some would think me mad. And in a way, I must agree. Is it madness to believe in something that is logically and scientifically disputed? Is it mad to believe in magic and miracles? Is it crazy to think that there is anything more to us than this struggle we call our "life"?

If I were to live 1000 years I doubt I could be certain of the most simple question of anything pertaining to life beyond death. Jesus Christ is the symbol that represents all these questions to me.

** I used a picture from an old painting as my reference model. I found it through a google image search. I have no idea who the original artist was. I can't find that reference picture any more, so I do not know to whom to give credit. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate a heads up. Thanks. ~ RS - 1/2009