A Delicate Balance
The planet Saturn is a facinating one. Several years ago, a
photograph was taken way out in space. My painting is an
"impossible" revision of this particular deep-space
photograph. Out there, where no human being could possibly
survive without a space suit, oxygen, and heat -- a camera's
shutter clicked as a result of one person's remote keyboard-command.
How amazing it would be to "be there" to witness
not only the "snapping" of the shutter but to also be able
to see what the camera's eye was seeing as it moved so
swiftly -- hundreds of miles per second -- toward the ringed
planet. If satellites could speak, possibly this one would
be speachless. It would watch the magnificent ring system
in all its beauty float in silence over the colorful gas
clouds far below. Gravity [from the ringed planet] would be
the only natural driving force for this homeless
space traveler. Then, quite suddenly, the silence would be
broken. A camera would become active -- responding
miraculously to the remote signal given. One person far far
away -- maybe in Texas on a Wednesday afternoon at 3:07 pm
would hit one key to enable the program to begin. There
would be a delay. It would certainly not be instantaneous.
And so, several hours would pass. Eventually, not long after
the transmission was received, we would see a return photo
-- just as we see here. I tell this story of deep space
communications because it is so hard to imagine something so
far away responding to our wishes and in such a
beautiful way -- connecting us still further to the beauty
of our home in the galaxy.
I have given this 1983 painting a title which specifically
deals with the ring system. When I was younger, I could not
understand how all the tiny material that made up the rings
could be so beautifully arranged for such a long time. How
big was each piece of material? How far apart was one piece
from another? And what color were the pieces? Were they
boulders the size of houses or buildings, or were they as
fine as sand? And were they very cold? My painting
includes spheres which represent these unanswered questions.
They are simply "there" for us to wonder about. They are
physcally separate yet part of "The Delicate
Balance."
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