Dear Artist,
”To sense the invisible and to be able to create it,” wrote Hans Hofmann, “that is art.” An English clergyman wrote a letter 235 years ago proposing the idea of a giant but invisible star so massive that it swallowed its own light. Based on his calculations, this body could be detected by its gravitational effect on surrounding objects. In 1915, 114 years later, Albert Einstein was developing his theory of general relativity, building upon his already proven theories about gravity’s influence on the motion of light. Then, in the 1950s, astronomers with radio telescopes noticed that seemingly peaceful galaxies were emitting disproportionate amounts of energy from their cores. Developing detailed models of how this was happening, scientists constructed an understanding of our universe based on scientific and mathematical data and calculations. The existence of this hidden reality was all but theoretical until this week, when the first photograph of a black hole was published.
Bridge Between Galaxies, 2017
18×24 inches
oil on aluminum composite
by Bryan Larsen
A galaxy called Messier 87, 55 million light-years away, in the constellation of Virgo, is seen in the image as a fiery orange light circling a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than our sun. Einstein was disturbed by his calculations when they proposed that matter collected in a quantity too high would overwhelm the force of gravity and turn on itself, bringing space and time to an end. The project Event Horizon, named for the point of no return at the swirling edge of a black hole, comprises 200 scientists on eight telescopes, and they have now proven — with a picture — the reality of Einstein’s vision. Harvard historian and physicist Peter Galison gushed at the “wonderful, open-ended sense of being able to see something.”
Like the Catholic Church enlisting artists to produce images of Jesus to guide an illiterate population in the 6th Century, pictures are still instrumental in communicating ideas. “Art,” said Edgar Degas, “is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
Reading By Moonlight 1, 2018
Oil on Aluminum Composite Panel
48×24 inches
by Bryan Larsen
Sincerely,
Sara
PS: “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” (Jonathan Swift)
Esoterica: Six years ago, when she was a graduate student at MIT, Katie Bouman began working on an algorithm to crunch through the visual data, measurements and atmospheric disturbances that were being collected by the Event Horizon Telescope project — the worldwide collaboration of astronomers, engineers and mathematicians attempting to picture a black hole by way of radio waves. As part of the Event Horizon team, the now 29-year-old post-doctorial researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics was at the heart of stitching together the information that made the image possible. “I have an interest in how we see things or measure things that are thought to be invisible to us, and how can we come up with unique ways to merge the instrumentation and algorithms to get at measuring things that you can’t measure with standard instruments.” (Scientist Katie Bouman)
The Letters: Vol. 1 and 2, narrated by Dave Genn, are available for download on Amazon, here. Proceeds of sales contribute to the production of The Painter’s Keys.
“We are the bees of the invisible. We wildly collect the honey of the visible, to store it in the great golden hive of the invisible.” (Rainer Maria Rilke)
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Learn the secrets of landscape and cityscapes from master UK painter Andrew Gifford, color mixes, techniques of layering and glazing different brushes and palette knives to priming and grounding boards. He will demonstrate how to paint from an early sketch to the final piece in the many stunning locals of the region = all while you live in a genuine castle and eat like royalty.
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Magnolia JoyAcrylic
11 x 14
Featured Artist
I am a self taught artist, I work in oil, Acrylic and watercolour also in Pastels. Started painting In Ashcroft with Mr. Campbell. I taught my self how to paint by studying professional artists’ work through reading, TV programs, educational DVD and work shops.
13 Comments
I am reminded of the Omni Magazine (1979 to mid 90s). it proved to be a fine vehicle for artists and illustrators for Sci-Fi . Not necessarily the invisible but depiction of the imagination.
Ah, yes, I still have issues 1 and 2 stashed away, the latter having Giger on the cover and the former having this bizarre image of a large metal fence that could now easily feature in Trump’s fantasticical dreams.
Thank you Sara. That is the best description of art which I have read to date. You also inspired me to pull out my favorite poet, Sharon Doubiago, who I need to read every so often. I figured it wouldn’t take long to find something appropriate to this post in her poetry. From Hard Country by Sharon Doubiago page 9,
“The blood still remembers its heleotropic path,
the procession behind the torches of the universe,
and the sound of the air
Buffeted by its movement
Is a hymn.
thanks for introducing me to this poet Leslie
What beautiful paintings by Bryan Larsen, incredible! Great article, thanks.
Basically, what is invisible made visible, is the subject of my paintings.
Mine, too! Depicting energy.
This morning I listened to a guy on the radio describe the black hole image as an out-of-focus glazed donut on a black velvet background. Now that’s plain speaking, not poetic or inspirational, but it does the job
Very well written piece explaining Black Hole.
S.K.Sahni – India
Beautiful, beautiful artwork. I think that black holes are the origins of new universes. Thank you for soldiering on. We need you, Sara.
B.T.W, I think that some personalities are black holes. I thought about a particular person one time while I attempted to paint one.
LOVE this entire thread…thank you once again <3 ~julie northey
I have a fair bit of "invisible cosmic embracing feelings" on my Paintings by Julie Northey facebook page, as I have "neglected" my actual website …stop by, say HI! Happy painting , y'all . :)
you should’ve named the English clergyman referred to… :(
probably John Michell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michell