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The Evolution of Nuclear Mysticism

 

 

 

"Transition State with Strange Attractor Depicting Thought"                                                     "The Fluid Nature of Man"

The Evolution of Nuclear Mystical Understanding

 When Salvador Dali was moved by scientific findings on the nature of matter to invent imagery to what he called "Nuclear Mysticism" he painted molecular structures to depict the space between atoms within the bodies he chose to paint (mostly people)  There was no distinction made for the different types or states of matter. However, his depictions allowed the viewer to contemplate and in some cases "Feel" the space between your atoms. A remarkable and revered effect for an artist to have on the viewer. 

As it turns out, the differences between states of matter are effected mainly by the density of atoms in any body. Consider water as an example. Solid water is ice. Liquid water is, well, water. We call water in its gaseous form "water vapor". A plasma created from water would include electronsprotons (hydrogen atom nuclei), and oxygen atom nuclei (protons and neutrons).

There are special names for most transitions from one state to another. Freezing is turning from a liquid to a solid; melting is turning from a solid to a liquid. The transition from liquid to gas can happen by boiling or evaporation. Condensation is changing from a gas to a liquid. Sometimes (usually at low pressure) a solid can become a gas directly (without first melting to become a liquid); this transformation is called "sublimation". Removing electrons from atoms (usually in a gas) to produce a plasma is called "ionization".

Stars are made of plasma, so plasma is the most abundant form of matter in the universe. But for life as we know it, life is impossible without water. Humans and other mammals are approximately 50-60% water and plants are typically 80-90% water. Both animals and plants are mixed phase entities, that is, several matter states are present in the body. 

Dali depicted the space between atoms to describe the physics of matter, and depicted people as solids (even if at a crystal or a molecular structure) not as the complex multi state material they are. the liquid qualities of the bodies were something Dali realized but did not expound upon. Dali chose to acknowledge the liquid properties and heir potential for movement by using his rhinoceric forms in his paintings. The logarithmic curve Dali was so fond of in these horn structures is used not only to depict form and potential movement, but addresses the liquid property of the subject.

In the two paintings I introduce here, I have evolved the concept and the imagery to show first the  more compact density of atoms that actually form a "solid" in "Transition State" and completely done away with all solidity in "The Fluid Nature". Since man is somewhere between 55%-65% water I am taking advantage of the percentages to show that we as humans flow through our world. In this painting H2O molecules are suspended everywhere, and as in life, they become part of our makeup. While most feel their skin is a solid, it is much more porous, liquid and spacious than say, your bones.

As you move, the gaseous air, including the suspended H2O molecules suspended in my painting are flowing through and into your being. The act of sensing a touch is the acquisition of data of where the density of your molecules has been interrupted by the density of the object you sense. But in reality, both have a tremendous amount of space between each atom, allowing not only for any number of philosophical similarities, but allowing the comprehension of nearly everything as fluid. 

This concept will be expanded upon in upcoming paintings which will explore the relationships of this space and the electro magnetic field created by thought.

As you read this, and electrons are flowing into your retinas, and the electrical marvels of thought architecture occur with your apprehension, you are a fluid system, one with grace and the glory of logarithmic form.

Solid                               Liquid                               Gas                                           Plasma

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