Artborne Magazine June 2017 | Page 45

Big Bang Theory in B & W, acrylic on canvas It goes beyond genus and species and family. It is the very science of life itself. It is a symbiosis of the highest level. We simply cannot exist without each other. We are all made from the same star stuff, gasses and atoms and particles that evolved over a hundred million millennia. These elements converged on our too-small planet and together they formed one extensive, expansive, and extravagant organism composed of nearly eight billion beings. It is a beauty and a wonder when we realize this. It is a terror and a shame when we do not. The artist continues her mission. She keeps painting. She keeps creating. She keeps revealing the depths and the mysteries and the truths Orlando Arts & Culture, v. 2.6 of the universe. She continues to peel back the layers by applying more paint to canvas, and in so doing the Answer becomes clear. That the truth and the universe are one and the same. That we are all parts of the same creature, simultaneously living inside of and made up of cosmic components. It is simple and complex all at once. It is a comfort and a warning. It is what we search for and what we avoid. It is our hope and our despair. It is a paradox. We are the Answer. You can see more at: LillianVerkins.com 44