Technical landscape with drone and mole Print

In this “technical” landscape we find: a drone, a “possible vegetation enhancement machine” to the left of the mushroom and a mole on caterpillars. Two mutants – in the process of mutating - sit on the water dam. Size: 50 x 70 cm (19.7" x 27.6") Finished May 2014. Background story The overall green color of the painting stands out. It is an "A study in green", like "A study in Scarlet". The title of the thrilling novella by Conan Doyle the English detective writer. The foreground of the painting shows us the further developed automation and mechanization of nature. Somewhere in the future. In the left foreground, a machine that probably produces living leaves or whole plants. An independent form of agricultural mechanization that got out of hand? More towards the center a plant with a lot of leaves, as if hit by a virus. Then to the right the animal, the mole on caterpillar tracks, also a “consequence” of that technical evolution. Behind it a white drone, which looks like a model airplane with a jet engine. Equipped to the level of the time with an “application oriented IC and software”. Connected to a supercomputer set up somewhere, this drone will have an overwhelming computing capacity and thus operates the pro rata built-in sensors and cameras in an all-encompassing and controlling manner. In the background to the left a group of houses, or structures resembling conventional architecture. Are they houses? Do they have a function? On the right the familiar group of trees partly reflected in the water. And then the almost infinite horizon, the depth of the painting, enhanced by the tapering banks of the canal. The large tree in the middle, most of whose foliage falls outside the painting, divides the composition in two. Then there is the dam in the middle section. On the left, a creature walks up the dam over a footboard and there are two on the dam itself. Who are they? What are they? Mutants of mammals, plants, insects a combination of these? Are they (partly) machines? There is really nothing to the right of the tree. Grass and sky. In itself that is not nothing. With this painting, the question is always: "What will the further mechanization and automation look like in the future?" Does this development affect all of nature? Although the landscape looks friendly, there is a threatening undertone: is this the result of an increasingly independent technique, in which nature has no choice? Would it be a macabre process, are we heading for an Apocalypse? For example, this apparently peaceful painting can be compared to Conan Doyle's exciting novel. Albrecht Duerer, the great German painter of the fifteenth century, was already aware that the Apocalypse sells well. Born in the time of the rise of the letterpress coast, he knew how to sell his frequently reprinted sections. Explained in this way, this painting could also be called “Tension in green”.