CAPITULATION

CAPITULATION
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

CAPITULATION

Full title: CAPITULATION TO THE INEVITABILITY OF HUMAN RE-DESIGN

18" x 18". Acrylic on canvas

This is my submission for the "THINGS TO COME" exhibition in New York City, opening 9/9/2010 at the BOLD HYPE gallery, (http://web.me.com/boldhypegallery/Strangers/STRANGERS.html)

The title pretty much expresses my idea; I believe that in the not too distant future we will accelerate the augmentation of our bodies using technology to an unprecedented degree. What began with wooden legs, hearing aids and eye glasses will become biomechanical “super-limbs”, super-vision eye implants and computer brain inseminations. I foresee surgically implanted communication devises, (Hey! I’d get one, wouldn’t you?) and … Well, only your imagination is the limit, and we all know there is no limit to the human imagination. I am one who believes that if we don’t kill ourselves in the next few decades, we will begin to push beyond Darwinian evolution. We will begin to “self-evolve” and “self-invent”. I foresee the next revolution of mankind being that of reinventing ourselves in the literal sense. We will become something all together new! I may be to old to see the day that death is “cured”, but some of you reading this now might actually live to see this.

Eventually all human beings will need to capitulate to the inevitability of our self re-design or parish. Evolution is evolution after all. :)

This is a 're-painting' of a smaller piece I did in 2008, "SUPPLICANT" (http://www.vomitus.com/museum/NewVmmPages/supplicant.html)

ANTAGONY

ANTAGONY
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

Acrylic on Canvas. Size: 24" h. X 48" w. completed 7/2010

Machine Gun Face

Machine Gun Face
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

MACHINE GUN FACE (WAR MACHINE II)
12" x 16" ~ Acrylic on canvas

This is a character I plan to use in my latest large project, (TRANSMUTATIONISTS) I'm sure he will look considerable different by the time he gets in the big picture.

Transmutationists is a painting full of (allegorical) characters such as this. These players in my painting, (Painted story, if you will) are representative of the melding of man and machine. A merger or a unification of our inventions, our bodies and our minds.

Perhaps this idea is becoming cliche. However, I'm still very much interested in it.

In the large painting I am depicting different possibilities. Some are warlike, like this guy. Some are devoted to energy, some to information, some possibly to something more esoteric. I'm not done with the piece yet.

BUGGED

BUGGED
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

This is an 8" x 10" piece I painted in between my more complex projects. (Acrylic on canvas)

It was an idea I got while I was being harassed and pulled in 16 directions at once, in other words, I was being "BUGGED"!

I’m pretty sure anyone reading this can relate. It seems no matter how carefully we plan to create stability in our lives, there is constantly something thrown our way to bug us.

I suppose “bugged” is a word that describes the lesser irritations in life, rather than major hardships. However, “Hardships” are indeed like ships that bring many “bugs” to plague us. Obviously, the term “bugged” (is it still considered slang, or is it now an accepted part of formal language?) comes from an allusion to the harassment of insects. Like a swarm of buzzing flies the insignificant details of life swarm us at the most inconvenient times.

At such a time as this, I deserted my post standing guard on reality, and ran away to the shelter of my easel. I scribbled a sketch on a sheet of paper and came up with this simple idea to express my feelings. I then proceeded to paint it.

Note the ‘un-panicked’ face, more or less calmly withstanding the onslaught of these large yellow pests. For what else can we do but face the buggeries of life with a certain calm vexation?

TIKI Pond

TIKI Pond
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

An 11" x 14" painting done for the upcoming "FALSE IDOLS" group exhibition at "BOLD HYPE" Gallery in Orlando Florida. Opens April 17th.

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES
Originally uploaded by rsconnett

Acrylic on Canvas, 24" x 18" March, 2010

I have always been one who has vivid dreams. As a child I was afraid to sleep due to intense dreams. As an adult, I look forward to sleep for the same reason.

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!)