Hullart.com Blog tagged 'Mystery'

A Pattern in the Universe - DNA and Matter

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:00:00 +0100

Scientists tell us that the amount of functional DNA in our genes is about 3% and matter represents about 4% of Space. So 3% of the genetic material in our cells is responsible for human kind. Four percent of Space is responsible for all of the matter. Does means that 97% of the genetic material and 96% of space remain relatively unknown and purposeless? What kind of pattern of reality does this perhaps suggest. Scientists focus on that part of [...]

Pyramids of Egypt and the Mystery of Size

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:00:00 +0100

One of the most interesting facts about the Egyptian Pyramids is the 'scale up and scale down' history of pyramid building. In just 60 years, based on historical accounts, the Egyptians went from a pyramid containing 330,000 cubic meters of material t0 one containing 2,600,000 cubic meters of material(Giza/ 4th Dynasty). In addition the complexity of construction progressed on a similar order. In the intervening time frame only two other pyramids were attempted and th [...]

The Ruins of Antiquity, the ruins of the Modern Age

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:00:00 +0100

As a part of the Burning Forest series I am creating a series of paintings depicting ruins of old and a vision of what the ruins of today might look like sometime in the not to distant future. The ruins of old in most cases reflect great architecture, character and the great materials used in construction. The ruins are as compelling as tghe original structures ( In some cases more compelling!). Of today's ruins I cannot say the same. In most cases I think they will look like [...]

Pyramids and the Power of Emptiness

jim@hullart.com — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0100

Lack of information, or emptiness, is one of the key precepts of Chinese aesthetics. It is the experience of having done the work of art that is important and not the work itself. Is that the case with the Pyramids? Was it more important to the builders to have done it than to have recorded the how and why? In the arts it is the undsaid that carries the energy through the piece. As Simon Leys relates in his book The Burning Forest,

" It should be observed [...]

The Mystery of Records and Purpose

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0100

" Extant Egyptian records, whether written or pictorial, throw no light on the methods employed by the builders of the pyramids either in planning or in constructing their monumental works."

So says I.E.S. Edwards in his famous book The Pyramids or Egypt. Logically this makes no sense. But whatever information they used to construct the pyramids on the Giza Plateau must also have been quickly lost as the preceding contructions reveal a lack of the same sophistication [...]

Creation or Imitation

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0100

According to Simon Leys the Chinese esthetic requires not imitation but rather creation or a summoning of nature.

"Painting is thus, in a literal sense, an activty of creation and not imitation."

This is what he says gives pictorial art its sacred character. This runs contrary to the illusionist nature portrayed in most classical western art. It again points toward the capture of the essence of the subject and not all of the detail. It points away from techinque ai [...]

Ruins

jim@hullart.com — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0100

We are all familar with the ruins of anitquity and many of these are captured in paintings on my site. The interesting thing is to ponder what the ruins of our current civilization will look like to those who will ponder them years from now. This idea is the beginning of a new group of paintings on the subject of ruins that I will be working on as a part of the new Burning Forest Series. Ruins of the past and ideas of ruins of the future will portray what I believe to [...]

Pyramids and Order from Chaos

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Painting the pyramids made me think in different terms as regards meaning and purpose. As monuments meant to last an eternity they must have some meaning that goes beyond their 'local' purpose. I think it is to represent man who has the potential of being the ultimate order from chaos machine. I have written previously in regards to the structrue of the pyramid and that of man. Knowing that the ancients related the pyramid and its shape to the idea of order from chaos [...]

A New Direction for Space Art

jim@hullart.com — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Historically space art has been focused on the lesser of the contents of space. It has almost exclsuively focused on the material aspects of the universe. The ironic thing is that these material aspcets only make up 4% of the visible universe. Why haven't we focused on the other 96%? Because the 4% is more obvious. It is easier to create a representation of material objects than suggest what may be the contents of the other 96%. This leads me to another supposition. If it i [...]

Overdescription in Art

jim@hullart.com — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:00:00 +0100

To over describe with a painting is to lose the potential connection with the viewer. The objectve is to develop a field of energy exchange with the viewer that leads to companionship. This cannont be achieved on a long term basis if all there is to say and do has been layed out before the viewer and does not attract the viewers participation. It is as if the artist is trying to create a long term conversation with the viewer. This requres that some degree of mystery and lack of def [...]

Logos and the Pyramids

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0100

The golden section to some has represented logos or the male reproductive action. According to Peter Tompkins, in his book on the Secrets of the Great Pyramid, it not only represents this but also the logos of the gospel of St. John. How did the Egyptians see the golden section and why is it embedded in the construction mathematics of the Great Pyramid? Why do paintings that use the golden section and othe works of art appeal? I think that it is embedded in our sense of beauty and reflects a key [...]

The Mona Lisa Smile - Part Two

jim@hullart.com — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Some time ago I wrote a blog entry in regards to the Mona Lisa smile. This is a follow up to that entry based on a passage that I read in an Eckhart Tolle book on The Power of Now.

"One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it."

Could that be the idea behind that enigmatic smile [...]

Sensory Deprevation or Burial Chamber

jim@hullart.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Having visited the Kings Chamber in the great pyramid I must admit that it first appears to be more of a sensory deprivation chamber than a place of burial. The Egyptian culture was focused on how the interior life manifested itself in outward actions. Therefore I would not be surprised if these chambers, which we know were used for initiation rights, were also used by the priests to help their royal counterparts reach a deeper level of inner being. A level were a [...]

The Unfinished Work of Art

jim@hullart.com — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:00:00 +0100

Walt Whitman, in his essay called 'A Backward Glance' referred to the unfinished w ork in the following way.

" The word that I myself put primaily for the description of them as they stand at last, is the word Suggestiveness. I round and finish little, if anything; and could not consistently with my scheme. The reader will always have his or her part to do, just as much as I have had mine. I seek less to display any theme or thought, and more to bring you, [...]

The Mona Lisa Smile - A Possible Source

jim@hullart.com — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:00:00 +0100

I was watching a recent program on early Greek art. The narrator pointed out that the Greeks like the Egyptians idealized all forms. One area that was most idealized was the smile on the faces of the statues and busts. Interestingly enought that same idealized smile appeared to be the same as the smile on the Mona Lisa.

Something More

jim@hullart.com — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:00:00 +0100

The philosphical scientists that existed in the 1930's at Cambridge had a belief that in addition to the phenonemon that was apparent to our five senses there existed that whcih could only be felt intuitively. They called this the 'Somehting More'. I believe that this is what C.S. Lewis was referring to in his many writings as the desire that we all have for something which has not appeard in our ordinary existence. He called it the Secret. As he s [...]

The Pyramids and Perfection

jim@hullart.com — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:00:00 +0100

As reported by Petrie, in his classic book from the 1800's on the Pyramids, the equisite detail and painstaking pursuit of perfection make these constructions both inspiring and enigmatic. A quote from the book.

" Hence the mean thickness of the [...]

Pyramid Construction and the Size of the Building Blocks

jim@hullart.com — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:00:00 +0100

A question that has always haunted me is why the builders used such large blocks in the construction? Logic would tell us that if at their size and weight(minimum 2.5 tons) it was difficult for them to handle they would have reduced their size to facilitate construction. The only conclusion that I can make is that they must not have had trouble working with such large masses or else the construction plan itself required the larger size. Why not make them the size of standard building blocks? [...]

Pyramid Math -- Part 1

jim@hullart.com — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0100

Not too long ago a program on Nova spotlighted a successful attempt to reconstruct a modern day pyramid near the great pyramids on the Giza Plateau. Over a several week(3) period, using the same methods they thought were used in the construcion of the Giza Pyramids, they were successful in building a pyramid of 186 stones(same size as the smallest in the Great Pyramid)that was 20 feet high. I decided to compare the performance on this new pyramid with the Great Pyramid to see how l [...]

Pyramid Math -- Part 2

jim@hullart.com — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0100

How many blocks per hour would the builders of the Great Pyramid have had to lay if it was built in 20 years?

Assumptions

20 years
365 days a year
no days off
2.4M blocks

1. 8 hour work day = 41 per hour
2. 10 hour work day = 32.9 per hour
3. 12 hour work day = 27.4 per hour

If this is true then we need to know what strategies they utilized to be this productive! This is the BIG STORY because if they were this productive then w [...]