Celestial Bodies

As the space race in the private sector heats up new exoplanet discoveries offer a glimpse of where mankind is moving in the near future. There's an estimated four hundred billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Every star has at least one planet. If u do simple math and say one out of every one thousand planets has life. That would leave u with roughly 40 million planets with intelligent life. (Just in our galaxy.) It is reasonable to believe that some of these planets could be hundreds or even thousands of years more technologically advanced than earth. Any civilization that advanced will have mastered interstellar travel and wormhole technology. 

Our current technology can put a person on the Moon, Mars and soon asteroids. Our asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are full of precious metals, crystals, and other resources that could alleviate their scarcity here on Earth. All the metals on earth originated from space. They were deposited here millions of years ago when meteors crashed into the planet. That's why there's a finite amount and the more we mine the less there is. Mining one asteroid could provide the planet enough resources for hundreds if not thousands of years. They're a veritable gold mine and government's around the world are aware of it. It will be like the movie Armageddon minus the cheesy romance and nuclear detonation. Anyone who says "we're never going to mine asteroids" is still living in the stone age.

To put things in perspective, if we are almost able to colonize other planets a civilization hundreds of years more technologically advanced could easily travel to earth. To go deeper down the rabbit hole. There is undisputable evidence that there was a pre flood civilization with advanced technology. What if some of them survived the flood by colonizing other planets? There have been pyramid structures like those in Egypt found on Mars. It would be mind blowing for humanity to finally start colonizing planets and find humans already out there. Imagine the first astronauts to land on Mars call back to mission control. "Houston we have a problem. There are people here and they're angry because our arrival took so long, and we didn't bring any chicken." Deep thoughts from a shallow mind.

Thoughts of possibly being able to travel to space in my lifetime inspired me to paint. There are infinite worlds to discover. My newest piece is titled Celestial Bodies. It's acrylic paint on (40 x 120cm ) canvas. 

  

Tormented Art

Amedeo Modigliani  (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) wasn't an extraordinary painter or sculptor. What made his work famous is the story behind the art. 

I never knew of Modigliani until I saw Andy Garcia play a fictionalized account of his life in the film Modigliani. In the film Modigliani is an up and coming Italian painter who becomes the art rival of then famous Pablo Picasso. He battles with canvas, Picasso, addiction and his love of women. My favorite line from the film is also the best description of the artist. "Why must you suffer for your art Mo, when all you have to do is paint." 

Afterwards I researched Modigliani and found his real history far more interesting than the movie. Modigliani made tormented art. He suffered and lived with illness his entire life. He was born into a wealthy Italian Jewish family who were well established in their community. Modigliani contracted pleurisy when he was 11, then a few years later caught typhoid fever. When he was 16, he contracted tuberculosis which later claimed his life at 35. 

During his brief career Modigliani was a man obsessed with art. He would sometimes do up to 100 sketches in a day. He loved alcohol, drugs and women just as much so he was often homeless and broke. During those low periods he would sell sketches and paintings for necessities, so the majority of his work is lost history.

The art that remains has become far more famous than Modigliani dreamed. He was a talented, and tormented man who only managed one art show in his entire career. Back in 2010 a series of his paintings from 1917 sold for over 68 million dollars. A testament that his art was before his time. 

Below are some paintings from Amedeo Modigliani, the man, myth and legend. If you would like to see more of his work click the link: Modigliani Gallery.