Sunday, December 27, 2015

New Year's Day 2016 by Rick Doble

  New Year's Day 2016  

 This is the moment 
moon and Earth from outer space NASA photo

 in the Earth's travel 
diagram of the Earth at different seasons of the year in relation to the sun

 when Santa's friend 
 Father Time 
Father Time postcard from 1910

 reminds us 
Father Time in flight

 that time flies 
Hour glass with wings in cemetery illustrating "time flies"

 out with the old 
 in with the new 
The young new year chasing the old bygone year into the history books

Text, design & research by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Winter Solstice 2015 by Rick Doble

 Winter Solstice 2015 

 We have forgotten 

 that at this darkest time 
 of year 

 when the sun 
 almost slips away 

 we are slightly afraid 


Text, editing and design by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Urge To Create by Rick Doble


 The urge 
by Rick Doble

Drawings on birch bark by a 7 year-old Russian boy Onfim, about 1260 CE, Novgorod.
In the picture on the right Onfim wrote "I am a beast."

 to create 

Contemporary painting by a child of her town in Slovakia.


 is as basic 

The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, ca. 1950-1964, by James Hampton. (Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum)
Made of tin foil from gum wrappers, light bulbs and other objects he found as a janitor, James Hampton in Washington DC USA created this piece of religious art during a 14 year period. When he died no one knew about its existence, and it was almost discarded until someone recognized its value; it was eventually placed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC
James Hamtpon posted the following on his wall in his garage where he built 'The Throne': "Where there is no vision, the people perish" — Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version)

 and necessary 

A New Year's Day mummer's costume and performance from the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia. Mummery, which is associated with Christmas, has been in existence since the early 1800s. Yet Mummery in various forms is an old tradition that goes back almost a thousand years. Groups that participate in the parade often spend a year designing and creating their outfits. You can see the new 2016 Philadelphia parade streamed live on your computer starting at 10 AM EST on January 1, 2016.

 as the need 

 to breathe 

Text, editing, design & research by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Rationalizing The Irrational by Rick Doble


  So Why Did You Do That?  
Text & design by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

Fludd's diagram of the conscious mind

 Much of the time 
 our rational minds 

angry man pointing his finger at another person in a crowd of people

 are used 
 to think up 
 reasons 

two teens gossiping about another teen, bullying, secrets

 that justify 
 our irrational 
 behavior 

kissing teenagers, love, infatuation


Sunday, November 29, 2015

Is There Such A Thing As Reality? by Rick Doble

  REALITY?  
 Text & design by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.


 If there is 
 such a thing 
 as reality 

Man whose clothing is not real but painted on his body
This man is not wearing clothing, but is naked, with clothing painted on.

 it lives on the edge 
 of our perception 

Optical illusion in which lines appear angled but are straight
These lines are not angled but go straight across.

 which 
 shapes and molds it 

 to give it 

 form and meaning 


Saturday, November 21, 2015

Our World Is Different Due To Technology by Rick Doble

 Our World Is Different - 
 Due to Technology 
(Text & design by Rick Doble except as noted. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

Painting by Paul Klee
Painting by Paul Klee.

"For the artist communication with nature 
remains the most essential condition. 
The artist is human; himself [ED: herself] nature; part of nature..."
Paul Klee, Paths of the Study of Nature, 1923


Arial photograph of New York City skyscrapers
Manhattan, New York, NY, USA.

 The old bond 
 between humans and nature 
 has been permanently altered 
 by technology 

Code named, Castle Romeo, this is a photo  of the first hydrogen bomb
Code named, Castle Romeo, this is a photo 
of the first hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb 
that would be deployed by the US military.

 The task of the 21st century artist 
 is to forge a new relationship 
 between humans and the world, 
 since our fate is inseparable 
 from that of the Earth 
Rick Doble, 1999

Composite photo by NASA of man-made electric lighting at night, across the world
Man-made electric lighting at night, across the world 20 years ago. 
Composite satellite imagery, NASA.

Composite photograph of the Earth and moon by NASA
(NASA image)


Saturday, November 14, 2015

Gentle Wind That Blows Through Atoms by Rick Doble

 The Gentle Wind  
 That Blows Through Atoms 
Poem by Rick Doble written in 1969. 
These original pictures by Rick Doble were enhanced and processed 
from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation, 
known as the CMBR or CMB,
from the Big Bang explosion that formed the universe.

Abstract image made from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang explosion that created the Universe


 The gentle wind 
 that blows through atoms 

Abstract image made from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang explosion that created the Universe

 that curls and lies quiet 

Abstract image made from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang explosion that created the Universe


 waits for a mind 
 to focus it  

Abstract image made from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang explosion that created the Universe

 like burning sunlight 


Abstract image made from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang explosion that created the Universe

 and penetrate 
 the weave of space 

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Poem By Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze)

Poem by Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze) over a photograph of sun reflecting on the water
Poem by Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, 1913-1951), 
abstract painter, photographer, poet.
(Photograph, editing and design by Rick Doble)

Saturday, October 31, 2015

It's Not A Cookie-Cutter World by Rick Doble

 It's Not A Cookie-Cutter World  
This principle of change or movement prevents nature from ever really repeating herself... 
The History of Scientific Ideas, Charles Singer
(Text, research & design by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)


Picture of water molecule

 Water molecules* 
 are the same 

Microscopic photograph of snowflake

 yet every 
 snowflake 
 is different 

Composite of normal leaf with veins and dried leaf with many veins
(Left photo by Rick Doble)


 every 
 leaf 

People walking on a beach
(By Rick Doble)

 every 
 person 

The newly photographed moon of Pluto, Charon (NASA).
The newly photographed moon of Pluto, Charon (NASA).

 planet or moon 

The galaxy Andromeda.
Our sister galaxy Andromeda.

 & galaxy 


*While there are two other isotopes of water, normal water (H2O) makes up 99.76% of water.


Saturday, October 24, 2015

Halloween And The Dead by Rick Doble

 HALLOWEEN & THE DEAD 
(Text & design by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

 In the West 
 we bury our dead 
 in separate cities 
 to keep them 
 at a safe distance 


Very large cemetery isolated from the skyscrapers of New York city in the background

 except on Halloween 
 when the dead 
 are invited 
 out 
 for a day 
 to 
 celebrate 

Halloween costumes: skeleton and gnoul


Sunday, October 18, 2015

Intuition Is The Gift, Reason The Servant by Rick Doble

  Intuition Is The Gift,  
  Reason The Servant  
(Text, design & research by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

There comes a point where the mind takes a leap 
— call it intuition or what you will — 
and comes out upon a higher plane of knowledge, 
but can never prove how it got there. 
All great discoveries have involved such a leap.
Albert Einstein

Rembrandt's etching of Dr. Faustus in his study
Rembrandt's etching of Dr. Faustus in his study, 
receiving an inspirational understanding.

 Before he called it "gravity" 
 before he did the math 
 Newton knew 
 what held things together 

Drawing form Isaac Newton's PhilosophiƦ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
From Isaac Newton's PhilosophiƦ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
in which he gave a detailed explanation of the forces of gravity.

 Before relativity 
 before his equations 
 Einstein 
 imagined chasing 
 a beam of light 

Shaft of light

 and understood - 
 what would take him a decade 
 to prove on paper 

Diagram of the Eath affected by the gravity of space-time
Einstein's universe in which space itself is affected by gravity.


Sunday, October 11, 2015

Eureka by Rick Doble

      EUREKA      

(Text, design & research by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility …
The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle.
Albert Einstein

Moon and apple -- that Newton would compare

 Some live 
 for the apple moment: 

 When Isaac Newton 
 saw in a flash 
 that apple and moon 
 were one 
 and the same 

Pythagoras hearing the musical scale from blacksmith's hammers

 Pythagoras hearing 
 the harmony 
 of 
 blacksmith's hammers 


Archimedes taking a bath - the Eureka moment

 Archimedes 
 taking a bath 


An abstract painting by Kandinsky

 Kandinsky 
 seeing the world 
 abstractly 
 from a painting upside down 

 Einstein 
 chasing a beam of light 

Picture of Isaac Newton seeling an apple drop from a tree

 The Universe 
 split open 
 for a second 
 to let 
 one small creature 
 SEE