Genesis Painting

The title suggests ‘Genesis’ is a painting of the Beginning, the moment of Creation of the (physical) universe. And at first sight it appears to be about the cosmos and cosmology. I believe however, it is not quite so straightforward – perhaps it is more about a Spiritual Big Bang than a physical one. Before I continue is important to point out that, as is the case with the cosmos, there is no ‘right way up’ to the painting’s orientation. Although much of the work of painting was undertaken in the portrait mode there was never a preferred view and this remains so with the finished work. It is not an easy image to decipher, to interrogate. What is its meaning? What does it say? In fact, on reflection, the title may give a false description of the work. Originally the painting was conceived to express the role of number in the process of creation – of Genesis. Genesis became the one word shorthand for a much longer title – Genesis: The Will of Number as the Catalyst of Creation. But the concept of Number’ s role in bringing existence into being seems to be only part of the story here. There is something else in the picture and it is difficult to define. It is difficult to estimate its scale. As we sometimes find, when looking at an unfamiliar map, we do not always know at first glance which is the sea and which is the land. To some extent the same is happening here – is the painting divided into physical space and abstract space? And which is which for they appear connected yet distinct. Perhaps this is not a picture of the cosmos at all? Perhaps we are looking at a Mind? Perhaps we looking at a snapshot of a consciousness, a neural network where the geometry of number resides deep down in some abstract firmware – a firmware only revealed in a Creation trauma? It is as if number and the geometry are pathways to existence, a path, a map to follow when the physical universe loses its coherence and identity. This is perhaps the essence and meaning of this ‘Genesis’. It is as if, when decay leads to no-thing and everything is lost, then existence can only be reborn by clinging to the hand of number and geometry as the Guide to deliverance from the abstract metaphysical world. Is this an image of the moment where the spiritual spark of Number is injected into the physical to bring existence into being? Is this an alternative to the concept Michelangelo employs on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel to reveal how God reaches out in his ‘Creation of Adam’. Is this the moment when existence can come into being and say ‘I am’.